Howl at the Moon
by Kouga's Eternal
Summary: Overhearing a conversation between Kouga and his underlings, Kikyo comes up with a plan after she is given a spell to strip Kagome of her Riki and restore her own life. Riki, however, cannot be removed without being replaced with something else
1. Chapter 1

**FAGE 8: Soul Mates**

 **Title: Howl at the Moon**

 **Written for: Jaden 'Birdie' Blythe**

 **Written By: Kouga's Eternal**

 **Rating: M (for language)**

 **Pairing: Kouga/Kagome**

 **Summary/Prompt used:** A mysterious person casts a spells/slips a potion/makes a deal to have the second person fall in love with them. Spells can fail and have to be renewed, potions have to be given regularly, and deals with the Devil eventually have to be called in.

 **A/N**

 **In the season of giving, there is a wonderful event called FAGE (Fic Awesome Gift Exchange), that I have been a part of for the last two years. This is my third, and it's super fun. This is the product I came up with for this year.**

 **A couple of things...**

 **In this AU, Kouga's tribe wasn't wiped out in the palace courtyard. They are alive and well.**

 **This story is done, and will be going up all at once. It has no baring on my other WIPs. Those will continue to update as I have the time to write them. However, it is because I've been writing this one nonstop for two weeks that my other updates have been slacking. I have come up with a set posting schedule, and it will be exposed in the next update of either Tied or The Contract, which ever goes up first.**

 **Other than that, and saying there is some fun to be had, both here and coming up...**

 **...Enjoy!**

 **~Kouga's Eternal**

 **Prologue**

Fire ripped through his body, a snarl ripping from his throat. Unable to move, Kouga laid there helpless as the dark cloaked figure walked towards him, his eyes locked on the gleam from a dagger.

So, this was it, was it? He was going to be taken out by a scared little pussy that attacked him from behind. If that's the way the fates wanted to play, he would see all of them to hell personally.

Fighting against the fire that ravaged his body, he turned to look at the cub a foot away from him, shaking and whimpering his Alpha's name. Kouga's voice was nothing but a growl, but it worked nonetheless.

"Run, Mito. Get away from here."

The young cub Kouga was teaching to hunt nodded, knowing the elder's word was law. He didn't go far, though, only into the trees for cover before turning back and watching. If they lost their alpha, the pack was doomed.

Growling again under his breath, Kouga closed his eyes. _'Damn kids don't listen for shit.'_

Cracking his eyes open when the light was blocked, he then bared his teeth at the person he still couldn't make out.

Her voice was amused and off-hand. "Does it hurt, Demon? Does it feel like you're finally facing the heat for all your deeds?" There was a giggle. "Don't worry. It won't kill you. Just make you wish it would."

Kouga growled low when the figure crouched down, looking at the dagger that was coming closer to his prone from.

The cloaked figure, voice still off-hand and matter-of-fact, grabbed Kouga's wrist and slid the dagger blade deep into his flesh. "You're needed alive. My Lady just needs a little blood."

From the corner of his eye, he watched as his blood ran down his arm, pouring in a constant stream from his elbow into a vial. Eye's glassy and unfocused, all the wolf prince could get out was, "Why?"

Dropping his arm and standing, the figure corked the vial of blood, then tucked it into a bag on her hip. "My Lady's purpose is not for me to disclose to the likes of you, Demon, but were you not the one who said you would do _anything_ for her to choose you?"

Turning ever so slightly, the figure grabbed the back of the arrow that was protruding from the small of Kouga's back and gave it a hard pull, ripping it free from his flesh and ending the stream of purification energy that had rendered the wolf incapacitated. There was a giggle in her voice as she looked at the arrow head. "Maybe, you should have been a little more specific, Wolf."

Kouga couldn't even yell, the pain was so great. The growl that followed shook the ground beneath his body as his claws dug into the stone and soil.

Through blurry vision he watched the white sock clad feet turn away and disappear. His lips pulled from his fangs as the fire of purification energy began to recede. _'What the fuck would anyone need with blood? I gotta find her... warn her. Kagome...'_

Mito, unsure of what else to do at the sight of blood flowing from his alpha's arm and below his armour, threw his head back with a howl, calling for help. He knew Kouga needed to get back to the den and into the care of the medicine woman, but there was no way he would be able to take him the four miles on his own.

All he could do when he saw Kouga close his eyes was hope someone bigger got to them in time.


	2. Chapter 2

"Ah... I don't know, Shippo. Being lazy sounds like a slice of heaven to me."

Stretched out on the plush grass, Kagome had her bare feet dipped into the slow moving brook, her tiny kitsune propped against her side. They had been moving nearly nonstop for three days, and her feet hurt something awful. She was at the water to gather some for lunch, but it felt so cool against her hands as she filled the bottles, and it was so hot, she couldn't resist basking in the much needed quiet. She knew Inuyasha would be along soon, yelling at her to hurry the hell up, that he was starving, but she didn't care. She needed a break from his voice and she was damn sure going to take it.

Shippo, going along with her, sighed as he played with his fingers looking at the brook a short moment before looking up at Kagome. "Are you sure that's a good idea, Kagome? I mean, Inuyasha has been in a pretty foul mood the past few days."

Dropping down to lay flat, Kagome groaned as she looked up at the sky. Wasn't that the truth? No one knew what was going on in his head, or why he was so pushy about the pace they moved. It was, for whatever reason, much worse than normal and even the Kami knew he wouldn't bestow on them the reason for it. All any of them knew was there was something going on with the self-proclaimed leader of their group, and not a one of them didn't suffer in some way for it.

Face taking on a slight glare, Kagome's mind, of its own volition, decided to dredge up the possibility that Kikyo was running around somewhere near, or at least in the direction they were heading. She always was, and Kagome doubted very much this time would be any different. It was only for the dead miko the hanyou became evasive and elusive with his answers to questions asked. It wasn't like they were following any Naraku leads at the moment. They were barely above aimlessly wandering the island at this point, which begged the question of...

Where was Inuyasha taking them?

This was mostly unfamiliar territory, and there had been no signs of anything that gave any clues as to what they were doing in the area. Hell, they hadn't passed a village or even an encampment in two days. There was absolutely no reason to keep moving in the same direction, and if they went much further, they were going to end up crossing into Sesshoumaru's lands. Truth be told on that account, no one wanted to deal with that on top of an already pissy Inuyasha.

Not only were they toeing dangerously close to the Western Lands and had no new leads on where to find Naraku, they had also zero prospect of any of the jewel shards, something that Inuyasha was very quick to blame on Kagome. It was 'her job' to find them, and 'her job' to basically know exactly where they were. More than once she had to swallow a 'what the fuck' when Inuyasha started on that particular tirade. How in the many levels of Hell was she supposed to just know where they were? They had to be within a certain distance, and Inuyasha knew it, but that didn't stop him from throwing in her face that his precious Kikyo would know where they were.

Like even.

If the dead bitch knew where they were, why didn't she have them in her possession already? _Oh, that's right,_ she thought. _She_ stole _mine before she gave them to Naraku after she tried to kill me the first time._

Inuyasha was the only one that would give the dead Miko the benefit of the doubt anymore, while Sango was nearly ready to kill her on sight because the dead Miko had stepped up her own plans to either kill Inuyasha or get her hands on the rest of the soul she shared with Kagome, something the slayer was starting to take extreme exception to.

In truth, Kagome was getting pretty damn sick of the walking funeral urn. She felt she was entitled to life, entitled to whatever she wanted when in fact, all she was 'entitled' to was a peaceful afterlife. She absolutely was NOT entitled to Kagome's soul, at least in Kagome's opinion, and she was also not entitled to everything else the miko from the past thought she was. She was also not entitled to a second chance at life, and nothing anyone said would get Kagome to think otherwise. You got one chance. That was the way things were supposed to be. It might not have been Kikyo's fault she was brought back from the dead, but everything she has done since that day sure as hell was, and one day, she would again be judged, and Kagome knew, even if Kikyo wanted to overlook it, she was not looking at the same kind of afterlife she once had.

With a sigh, Kagome closed her eyes and forced herself to settle back down and refocus on the current peace and quiet. She knew it would do her no good to think about, or dwell, on Kikyo. The dead miko would continue to do what she wanted, to whom she wanted to do it, in her attempts to gain revenge. She was also sure that, eventually, she would be attacked by who she once was and give up what she was doing and search for much needed redemption.

Kagome pushed herself up on her elbows, a frown on her face in response to the last thought. Would she really? Kikyo may have been one of the most beloved, holy, and benevolent mikos of all times, but she was anything but what she used to be. If anything, she was the exact opposite of the person she once was. She was now hateful, evil, and maleficent, and that was being kind. Again, it might not necessarily be the dead miko's fault. There was a chance most of it had to do with the way she was returned from the dead, but there comes a time when your choices are nothing but your own, and Kikyo had been back now for over a year. Plenty of time had passed and she only seemed to have shifted her focus from Inuyasha to now mostly focusing on only Kagome and somehow getting her soul and power.

Frown deepening, Kagome shook her head and shifted her position, kneeling next to the brook to fill the water bottles. No matter what, her thoughts were always drawn to Kikyo, and it was truly starting to piss her off. It was like she couldn't get away from her, no matter what. Everything eventually led her to the her incarnation, and she was getting pretty fucking sick of it. She couldn't even enjoy a beautiful day anymore without the past rearing up and staring her in the face.

Closing the top of her sports bottle, Kagome set it down, dropping to sit on her ankles, and crossed her arms with a glare on her face. Why was it her thoughts always drifted back to Kikyo? For the longest time Kagome refused to acknowledge the face she was the elder's reincarnation, and refusing to allow anyone else to point it out. She wasn't Kikyo, and other than what would only be a passing resemblance, because to her they looked absolutely nothing alike, there was nothing they had in common. Was it because the witch used her to bring back Kikyo? Was it because they shared the same soul? Ever since she was brought back, even being nowhere near her, Kagome couldn't get away from Kikyo.

She had only just closed the screw on cap when Shippo's tail brushed her leg, startling her out of her thoughts, and made her drop her water bottle into the brook. It was with a giggle and shake of her head, she reached out to grab it, only for her fingers to hit it, pushing it further into the stream. From the bank, the water didn't appear to move that fast, but more toward the middle, there was apparently quite the current.

"Damn it." Running a hand down her face, Kagome shook her head and looked after her favorite water bottle, debating on whether or not it was worth going after. It did keep water colder longer than a regular bottle, and it was hot as Hell outside currently. It wasn't until it went over a short waterfall Kagome decided to go after it. After telling Shippo to fill the rest of the bottles, she walked toward the decline twenty feet away. She wasn't really in a hurry, and it wasn't like the bottle would vanish if she didn't run.

At the base of the hill, Kikyo waited. She had spent the last day trying to figure out how she was going to move on to the next phase of her plan, but was having one hell of a time when it came to how she was going to have her reincarnation ingest the blood of the wolf demon. Until she figured that out, there was no way she knew she could proceed with her plans.

When Kagome's water bottle appeared in front of her, it was like a gift from the Kami. She paused to look to the top of the hill before quickly wading into the water to retrieve the bottle. It did take her a moment to figure out how to open the strange water container, but when she did, she pulled the vial of blood from her sleeve and grinned as she looked at it. Though there was quite a large about of crimson liquid, it wouldn't take much of it. While not one to give credit to demons, Kikyo knew the blood donor actually had quite the powerful aura, which should have no problems whatsoever taking the place of the Riki Kikyo was determined to relieve Kagome of as soon as possible.

Popping the cork from the vial, Kikyo poured every last drop of blood into the water bottle before dropping the glass and screwing back on the lid. Shaking the container, she grinned as she made her way from the stream, tossing Kagome's bottle over her shoulder and back into the current. The more she had to move in this heat, the more she would drink when she finally got it back, and the sooner Kikyo could finish what the blood would start.


	3. Chapter 3

It had taken Kouga nearly twelve hours to begin to feel better after he was shot in the back with a purification arrow, and several more after that to be able to move without feeling like he was going to throw up. The minute he was able, he sent his wolves out to hunt down Kagome, but so far, there was no word on her location, and with each passing moment, there was more of a chance he was going to be too late to stop whatever it was that little bitch planned to do with his blood.

Still not quite back to full strength, Kouga disobeyed the medicine woman and left the den, determined to do whatever he had to, to find either Kagome or the bitch that took his blood. It had been nearly a full day since the clearing, and there was a lot of ground to cover in order to accomplish finding either.

Stopping, Kouga leaned on a tree to catch his breath. His back hurt and his head was spinning, but he knew he couldn't stop for long. During the short rest, he questioned how the onna even knew he said that. The only ones present were Ginta, Hakkaku, and the wolves, but neither one of the ones that can actually talk would have repeated any part of that conversation to anyone else. They would have known Kouga would have had their asses for it.

With another sigh, Kouga pushed himself off the tree and, with a roll of his shoulders, he was off again. In the end, it didn't matter how the bitch knew he said he would do anything for Kagome's affections. What did was she knew it, and he had a sinking feeling that whatever this Lady had in mind was going to turn out on the wrong side of fucked up for everyone involved.

When he said he would do anything for Kagome's affections, he truly did not mean he would resort to spells or sorcery to make it happen. It was dangerous to fuck with that shit; even he knew that. Besides, there were plenty of other ways to gain the onna's favor without going to that kind of extreme. But, no amount of thought he put into the situation got him any closer to figuring out what his blood was for. While he would admit he wasn't exact the best versed in the way of magic and spells, he really could not figure out how blood would factor into the equation. Kagome was a Miko. Demon blood would kill her before it did anything else; that much he did know.

Knowing that, it was literally a matter of life and death to find Kagome before whatever it was that involved his blood to be carried out.

Having no other ideas, he decided to head toward the village Kagome and her friends tended to favor. If nothing else, maybe someone there, or along the way, could point him in the right direction.

*X*

It was easier than it has ever been to dodge through the trees and underbrush, but that was the thing... It shouldn't have been.

Kagome didn't stop at the sound of her name. She kept running as fast as she could move. She knew she had to get distance between her and Kikyo or she was positive she would be trading places with the older woman when it came to living status.

While she ran, she tried to figure out what happened, but nothing was making a lick of sense. One minute she was in the much deeper part of the stream getting her water bottle, next minute she felt like she was being burned from the inside out. She hadn't seen anyone around, and all she did was take a drink from the sports bottle before it felt like fire erupted in her stomach. The pain stole her breath and blinded her for a few seconds. She heard a voice she would know anywhere and did the first thing that came to mind...

...Run.

Again she heard the frantic call of her name, but she continued to ignore it as she ducked under another low hanging branch. She still had no idea where she was, and she wasn't sure she hadn't crossed the border into Sesshoumaru's territory, but if she did, she didn't care. She was far more afraid of what was behind her than she was of what might be in front of her.

Heart hammering in her ears, Kagome made to leap over a fallen tree, but another wave of fire ripped through her, taking her legs out at the knee, causing her to hit the ground hard. She had been running so fast, her forward momentum didn't allow her to stop when she landed, but instead had her tumbling down a shallow incline before landing in rather deep puddle of water left from the rain a few days prior.

Breathing ragged, she pushed herself to her hands and knees, the dirty water soaking her clothing and dripping from her hair. She couldn't focus on outside appearance, though. Her stomach rolled hard, leaving her gagging, gasping for her every breath. She knew she hurt herself on the fall, plus she knew she looked like a drowned rat, but all she could do was fight against throwing up.

Honestly, it felt like she was kicked in the gut and shoved into a fire. Everything hurt, but that was honestly the least of her problems as far as she was concerned. That was a footnote compared to the facts she was confused, lost, and alone.

Another violent roll of her stomach and she lost the hard fought battle not to get sick. Her eyes squeezed shut as she retched in the puddle she was still in. Whatever it was trying to come out was so thick, Kagome actually choked when it clogged her throat, cutting off her ability to breathe. Fear began to set in when she couldn't catch a single breath. Slitting her eyes open, she did what she could to force what was choking her out. Her head felt hot but her body went cold as she won the hard fought battle.

Breathing labored and deep, Kagome looked down between her hands, her vision blurry, at the the blob she couldn't make heads or tails of. She had no idea what she just forced from her body, but worn out and light-headed, her eyes rolled up in her head as she dropped back into the water with a splash.

The world around her was submerged into complete darkness and utter silence. She was wholly unaware when she was no longer alone in the woods, or the danger she was in when she passed out.

Sock and sandal clad feet lightly touched the ground, the area illuminated in a eerie bluish glow. Kikyo looked down her nose at the body of her reincarnation, her brown eyes cold as ice. She moved with purpose to her side, crouching down next to the puddle, a contemplative look on her face when she spoke out loud.

"Maybe you aren't as useless as I originally thought, Naraku."

There was a deep chuckle from the bushes, the kumo hanyou revealing his exactly location. "I take it you are pleased with the results?"

Face never changing, Kikyo lowered her hand into the pink tinted slime Kagome expelled from her body in the moments before. The reaction was instant. Her body absorbed the mass, causing Kikyo's body to glow for a moment. When the light died away, she set a hand on her chest, feeling her heart beating beneath her skin that now had the color of life and not the ashy color of death.

For the first time in a long time, a smile graced the lips of the fully brought back miko. Her voice, at first, didn't carry the normal coldness it always had. "Pleased doesn't cover." Standing and turning to Naraku, she lost the momentary pleasantness, and reverted back to the hateful bitch she had become after her death. "Our deal is done. Kagome no longer has the power to destroy you, and I am once again fully alive. We have both gotten what we wanted, and this will be our last encounter I allow you to leave."

Naraku chuckled darkly as he stepped from the shadows. "This was never about her, and we both know it. It has always been about Inuyasha."

Kikyo waved a hand as she watched her soul gathering eel like demons begin to slowly vanish. "Inuyasha is also no longer a problem for you, either. His greatest reason was to avenge my death. Since I am no longer dead, his reasons are no longer valid."

A smirk pulled at Naraku's lips as he looked at the no longer human Kagome at Kikyo's feet. "You do not think he won't want the same for your reincarnation he has come to care for?"

A spark entered Kikyo's eyes as a smirk of her own graced her lips. "Care for? Have you not been paying attention, Naraku? If he cared for her at all, he wouldn't have let her go off on her own when he knew I was in the area. No, Inuyasha is of no consequence to you any longer, nor is Kagome of any to him; the wolf will see to that."

Slowly a brow rose up Naraku's forehead. "The wolf?"

Kikyo snorted softly as she shook her head. "You truly are incompetent. A gift from the Kami cannot be removed without something taking it's place. While the wolf may not be the strongest demon alive, he does have one of the most powerful auras I've personally come across in a very long time. Kagome's riki was replaced with his aura, effectively making her belong to him."

"You've mated them."

Kikyo shrugged and turned to walk away, her voice barely loud enough for Naraku to hear. "You cannot forcefully mate two beings by way of magic. I am simply counting on the wolf to not know the effects are not permanent... to be a creature of his word by completing the process before the spell wears off and needs to be recast. Stealing the blood of a demon is not an easy task. I doubt he will leave himself open to such a thing again."


	4. Chapter 4

There was a quiet groan on the air, pulling Kouga from his mind and back into the present. Slanting open his eyes, he looked down from his perch to Kagome, who finally seemed to be waking up. Even before he found her, he knew he was too late, but he wasn't expecting to find a, clearly, no longer human Kagome in a puddle of dirty water. After he moved her to a safer, and dryer, location, he spent the past several hours trying to figure out exactly how he was going to explain things to her, but honestly, he had no idea what happened, so wasn't sure he was going to be able to.

Dropping to the ground from the branch he had been sitting on when she moved, and landing a measured distance away, Kouga crouched to his palms and the balls of his feet and dipped his head. "Hey there, Kagome. You alright?"

Slowly rolling to her hip and holding herself up with one hand, Kagome slipped her fingers into her hair, another groan in her throat as her head continued to pound with every beat of her heart. The first thing she did was 'shush' softly before her quiet voice sounded out. "Loud... shhhh soooo loud." Slowly she opened her eyes and looked for the familiar voice. Once she was looking at the wolf prince, she swallowed hard. "Why is everything so loud?"

Kouga looked away from Kagome's now inhuman blue colored eyes, biting into his bottom lip as he too gulped. _Must stay back... Don't touch..._

Clearing his throat, he let out a breath and looked back at her, keeping the volume of his voice as quiet as he could to compensate for Kagome's newly heightened hearing. "What do you remember?"

Scratching the back of her head, Kagome repositioned herself so she was sitting, her head now cradled in her hands. She searched her memories for anything to answer the question, but after a few moments, she shook her head, shifting only her eyes to look at Kouga. "I don't know. It's..." Trailing off, she shook her head again, dropping her eyes. "I remember water. I was at the water. I took a..." Eyes snapping back to the standoffish wolf, her eyes were wide. "It wasn't water."

Dropping his head, Kouga growled in his chest. Great... this was perfect. Looking back up at her, he shook his head. "I really doubt it." Looking off to the side, he then hummed before standing. "Come with me."

Kagome blinked at him. "Kouga?"

Grinning at her, hoping to put her at ease, he locked their eyes. "I'm gonna need you to trust me."

Kagome's voice was still soft. "You know I do."

Grin growing, he held out a hand, even knowing that was a horrible idea. "Then come with me."

Kagome looked at the hand in front of her for a moment before she slowly set her hand in his, snapping it back when it felt like she was shocked.

Kouga watched as Kagome's eyes went out of focus and sighed. _Fuck... that ain't good._ Knowing the damage had been done, he moved to crouch right in front of her, crooking a finger under Kagome's chin and tilting her head back to look at him. Once he had her attention, he smirked at her. "Ignore that."

Kagome shook her head as best she could with her chin still being held hostage. "What was that? It was..."

Kouga nodded and cut her off. "I know." Licking his lips, Kouga tsked and let go of her chin, grabbing her wrists and pulling her to her feet. Walking backwards so he didn't break eye contact with her, he backed himself through the brush to the hot spring on the other side of the foliage. When he felt his heel overhang the edge, he moved to the side and pointed to the water. "Take a look."

Kagome glanced at the water before looking back at Kouga. Her eyes were scared, but when Kuoga crossed his arms and leaned against a tree with a nod of his head, she let out a slow breath and knelt at the edge where Kouga just was and looked down into the water. She saw it right away. With a gasp, one hand flew up to her face, settling under her no longer brown eye. She moved her hand to cover her mouth, but when she heard Kouga tell her that wasn't all, she turned to look at him, and saw him point up at his own ear.

Letting out a whimper, Kagome looked back to the hot spring and moved her hair, a cry leaving her throat when she saw the new point to her ear. She then heard a scratching noise, drawing her attention to her hand that held her weight, or more specifically, the sharp points her nails were curled into as the gouged lines in the stone she knelt on.

Returning her eyes to her reflection, tears welled up in Kagome's eyes. She said nothing, knowing there was nothing to say. It was silent for a time before Kagome's attention was drawn from her appearance to Kouga's reflection when he appeared next to her. She swallowed hard, but still couldn't think of anything to say.

Kouga clicked his tongue and crouched, draping his hands over his thighs as he looked at her when she looked at him. His voice was soft, but held little room for doubt in his words. "I'm going to make you two promises, Kagome. The first is, I'm going to do whatever I have to, to help you through this. The second is, I'm always going to right next to you, and will make this as right as I can for you."

Kagome looked at him, uncomprehending. Slowly, she shook her head, swallowing the lump in her throat. "What happened to me?"

Kouga shrugged. "I'm a little fuzzy on the details myself to be honest. I don't really know. What I do know is, yesterday I had my blood stolen, and today, you drank it."

Kagome was quick to shake her head. "I didn't drink any..." Kouga cocked a brow and it hit Kagome like a wrecking ball. "The water." When he nodded, it was like she was hit in the chest. It knocked the wind from her lungs and kinda made her wanna throw up, but she fought it back. Licking her lips. "How? How did you get your blood stolen?"

Though it was a rather sore spot for the wolf, both literally and figuratively, he presented her his back and, bending far enough forward, he pulled up on the bottom of his armor while slightly pushing down on the fur pelt around his waist, showing off the nasty looking wound that refused to heal properly because of the purification energy still present in his system. He would have to give one thing to bitch that shot him, she didn't lie. The fucking injury hurt something awful.

Kagome gasped at the sight, reaching towards Kouga's back, but stopped just short of actually touching the skin. "What happened?"

Slowly and carefully replacing his clothing, Kouga sat down and turned to look at Kagome, setting his hands on his bent knees. "I was helping one of the cubs hone his hunting technique when I was hit from behind with a holy arrow. Thankfully it wasn't strong enough to actually kill me, but it was still really fucking strong... hurt like you wouldn't believe." Pausing, he pulled down the arm band, revealing the long gash to his forearm where he was bled from. "She took quite a bit, but wouldn't say what it was for." Shaking his head with a growl, he pulled his band back into place. "The bitch terrified one of my cubs and nearly killed me."

Kagome jolted at the last statement. "You have cubs?"

Snapping back to himself, Kouga blinked. "What?" Realizing how that sounded, he shook his head. "No, they aren't mine as in mine, but mine as in my responsibility as the Alpha of the pack."

Kagome nodded and dropped it as she pulled her knees to her chest, then wrapped her arms around her shins. Propping her chin, she frowned. "It had to be Kikyo."

To her surprise, Kouga shook his head. "I saw the onna, Kagome. It wasn't her."

"One of her priestesses then. It _has_ to have been her, Kouga. Who else would do something like this?" Then she huffed out a hard puff of air. "Whatever 'this' is."

Kouga again shook his head. "I don't know."

Looking off to the side, Kagome frowned and reached up, rubbing her eyes with the heels of her hands. Blinking repeatedly, she blew a raspberry with her lips before turning back to Kouga. "Besides the obvious... changes, would your blood have done anything else?"

Scratching his brow with the tip of a claw, Kouga took a moment between her asking the question and him answering. Kagome had a temper, and he was positive this would set it off. Recrossing his arms, Kouga nodded. "Yeah, it did. All this time with the hanyou and a slayer, how can you know so little about demons? Granted the mutt isn't exactly a demon, but still, the fox."

Kagome shrugged and lowered her eyes. "Demon blood isn't something we talk about. And leave Shippo out of it. He's a child."

Kouga snorted. "No, he's not. That fox, I guarantee, is older than any of the cubs of my tribe, and is probably pretty close to Inuyasha's age. You cannot be deceived by appearance when it comes to full bloods. You don't actually think you and I are the same age, do you?" When she only glanced at him before dropping her eyes again, Kouga chuckled. "I've been alive for over two centuries. I'm only a handful of decades younger than the Western Lord, and even he's not that old for a demon. There are some, though not many, still alive from the day demons were created. At no point in our lives do we age at the pace a human does. As a matter of fact, we age so slowly in comparison, we do look like children for nearly a century."

Though she filed away what he said, Kagome looked back at him. "What else? You said your blood did more than just... this. What did it do?"

Tapping a claw on his bicep, Kouga cocked a brow. "Where are my shards?"

Kagome bulked at the question. "In your legs."

Kouga leaned closer to her, and lowered his voice. "Can you see them?" He watched as she glanced down at his shins, her eyes going wide before snapping her eyes back to him. Keeping his voice low, he took the longest route he could to the final destination. "You don't smell like you used to. You used to smell like cherries and Sakura Blossoms."

Kagome nodded. "And now?"

Kouga tsked. "And now, you smell like me... and cherries."

Not understanding, Kagome made a noise in her throat. "Okay. Your blood was in the water, so I guess that makes sense. But... you're being evasive. Now is not the time to be evasive. Be you, and tell me what's really going on."

Scooting closer, Kouga reached out and set his hand on Kagome's, locking their eyes and hoping she put the pieces together on her own. "Your aura is gone, Kagome. You share mine now." When incomprehension entered her eyes, Kouga stopped trying to adhere to human sensitivities and laid it out on the line. " _You're_ mine now."

The noise that came out of Kagome's throat was a cross between a grunt, a groan, and a gasp. Her voice shook when she spoke. "Not like yours as in yours, but your responsibility, like with the cubs?"

Kouga shook his head slowly. "No. Mine, as in mine. You having my scent will keep other male demons away from you, and the sharing of my aura binds us together. Whoever did this, whatever their actual goal, mated us."

Being so close to the side of the overhang above the hot spring, when Kagome jerked back in shock at the statement, she went over the side and landed in the hot water with a splash. When she resurfaced, coughing and sputtering, she looked up at Kouga, who was looking down at her with amusement on his face. Wiping her hair out of her face, she spit out another mouthful of water before calling up at him. "Mated? As in... like..."

Kouga propped his chin on his closed fist with a nod. "Yup, just like that." He watched her face, and even though it flew through a massive amount of emotions, he didn't actually see the anger he had been prepared for.

When Kouga pointed out to her she didn't seem angry, Kagome's lip curled. "You're right. I should be really, really mad but, I can't do it." Cocking her head to the side as she treaded water, she licked her lips. "Why can't I get angry over this?"

Kouga moved to lay on his belly, holding a hand down to her. When she took it, Kouga effortlessly pulled her out of the spring and on to dry land. Neither one move to give the other space. Kouga though, continued to fight against instinct for the time being and instead just gazed down at his woman. "I don't care." The smirk that Kagome would know anywhere graced his lips. "The fact you can't though, works really well for me."

A brow slowly slid up Kagome's forehead, a smirk of her own pulling at her lips. "Does it? Well, tell me, Kouga. Does this?"

With no warning to the wolf, Kagome grabbed his arm. With surprising little effort, she jerked Kouga off his feet and into the water below her. Looking over the side of the rocks she was still on, she giggled when Kouga surfaced, then she squealed at the look on his face and took off into the woods. Behind her, she heard the water displace when Kouga got out. With bark of laughter, she ran faster.

Her sight was so clear now, clearer than it had ever been. She had often wondered how Inuyasha could run so fast through the woods and not run into anything, but now she knew. He had told her how much better his sight was than hers, but she never would have guessed there was that much difference.

At the thought of Inuyasha, Kagome slowed to a stop, waiting for Kouga to catch up. She turned to the side when she heard him behind her, and have him a look between annoyance and acceptance. "You know I have to go back to them, right?"

Kouga grunted. "Why? Your place is with me now."

Kagome sighed and crossed her arms. "I get that, but they're my friends and, whether or not he's actually a child, Shippo needs me. I didn't say anything before I left and they're probably really worried."

Though first he made a sound of disgust, he did relent when her face turned pleading. "Alright, I'll help you find them."

Smiling at him, Kagome again turned and began walking. "I couldn't have made it that far, right? They should be around here somewhere, shouldn't they?"

Falling in step next to her, Kouga crossed his arms. "You might not have at first, but I didn't cross any of their scents when I found you, and you're not where I found you. You don't know exactly where you were when you drank that blood laced water, plus the chance of them even still being there is pretty slim."

Looking up at him as she clasped her hands behind her back, Kagome cocked her head. "So, where are we, exactly?"

Kouga cocked a brow. "You don't recognize the place?" When Kagome shook her head, he pointed with one arm to the mountain they weren't that far from. "My den is up there. We are well within the boundary of my territory. It was the best way to protect you when you were out cold. I know every inch of these lands, and who normally inhabits them."

Nodding her head, Kagome looked to the ground. "So that would put us on the Eastern coast, right?" She looked up at him only long enough to see him nod before looking back down in thought. "Well, if it hasn't rained since you found me, do you think you could find their scents if we went back to where you found me?"

Kouga hummed. "Possibly, but you know you could, too."

Kagome frowned. "No, I couldn't. I don't know what they smell like."

Grabbing her arm, Kouga pulled her to a stop and turned her to face him. "But that mutt knows what _you_ smell like. You smelled like you until about three hours ago. He could have found you if he was looking."

Brow creasing, Kagome blinked. "You don't think he is?"

Kouga shrugged. "I don't know, but you were out for a while, Kagome. There's no reason he wouldn't have shown up yet if he was actually looking."

Glaring off to the side, Kagome actually growled in her throat. "The only reason he wouldn't would be because of Kikyo." Turning that glare on him, she asked, "Still don't think she had anything to do with this?"

Kouga held up his hands. "I never said she didn't. I said I didn't see her yesterday. I also didn't smell a graveyard where I found you, and that's what the bitch smells like. She literally smells like the rotting corpse she is. That scent was no where present."

Getting a little more irritated, Kagome snapped at him. "Was anyone's? Did you smell anything but me when you found me?"

Kouga shook his head. "Nothing but the forest."

"Then you need your nose checked, because I still had my riki when I was at the water. I _know_ I did, because I sensed the shards in my bag back at the camp. I didn't lose it until after that. It doesn't just vanish, Kouga. It went somewhere. So, unless there is another self-important Miko out there that wanted _my_ powers, it was her!"

Kouga's own temper igniting, he barked back. "So the fuck what if it was!? Do you honestly think by finding the mutt, and hopefully by extension her, this will all magically go back to the way it was? That's not how this works, Woman."

Kagome growled again. "If she's involved, it's a spell, Kouga."

Growling back, and for Kagome quite darkly in her opinion, Kouga glared hard. "Maybe that took your powers, but it wasn't a spell that took my blood. It wasn't a spell that put my blood in your veins. I will admit that I stay the fuck away from the magic of the world, but even I know you cannot force mate by magic. That can _only_ happen by the ingesting of blood. _You are no longer human._ My blood did that. Not a spell."

Stepping back in the face of Kouga's own anger, Kagome held up her hands. "Okay, damn I get it. I understand what you're saying. I'm not trying to start a fight here, but as you pointed out, I'm not human and I was yesterday. That looks like magic to me."

Kouga dropped his head back on his shoulders, sighing hard. "But it wasn't." Running his hand down his face, he returned his sights to Kagome, closing the distance between them before grabbing her hands like he always did, though he did stand closer to her than he used to. Taking both her tiny hands in one of his, he crooked a finger under her chin and tilted her head back. "Magic didn't do this. This isn't the first time a female drank the blood of a male demon without either knowledge or consent. It happens all the damn time, and most of those the female doesn't even know the person the blood belongs to. This? This isn't as bad as it could be. At least you know me, and you know I would never do anything to hurt you. Others don't have that. It's not magic. It's... it's simply demonic mating at its fucking finest."

Kagome snorted without amusement. "Sounds like it."

Kouga, however, was rather amused. "We aren't civilized, Kagome. Not a single demon is, nor would any of us claim to be. We kill for sport and slaughter for fun. You've seen what happens when the mutt's demon side is released. That's not all that far off from any other demon you have ever crossed paths with. The only difference is, the higher up the ladder of evolution, the more control over that half of us we have. Even one day you will make your first kill for something other than food, and you'll like it."

Kagome scoffed. "I will not."

Kouga grinned. "You will too. Be it in self defence or tribal offense, you will kill eventually. My guess is it will be in defense of one of the cubs."

Pulling her chin free, Kagome frowned. "One of the cubs? Isn't that their parent's job?"

Kouga shook his head. "We're a pack, Kagome. We look out for everyone, from the alpha all the way down to the omega, and everyone looks after the cubs. Those ornery little bastards run off, don't listen, and get into all kinds of trouble. Truth be told, they aren't all that different than human children in that sense. They just tend to think they are a little more invincible than humans, and because of that, they get into much more dangerous shit."

Kagome pictured what he described and a tremor danced down her spine. "Sounds fun."

Letting go her wrists when it seemed she calmed down, Kouga settled his hands on her hips and pulled her closer to him. She followed the unspoken instruction without a fight, bringing a smile to Kouga's face. Looking down at her again, he hummed. "It can be. Sometimes the situations they get into are pretty funny, actually." Pausing, Kouga looked up to the sky, his lips pursing. "Well," returning his eyes to hers, "it'll be getting dark soon. Why don't we go to the den for the night and start trying to find your friends in the morning? We won't make it back to the western lands before night fall."

Kagome jerked back. "Western Lands?"

Kouga nodded. "Yeah. I found you about two miles in under Sesshoumaru's watch."

Kagome actually choked. "Excuse me?"

Kouga snorted and shook his head as he released his mate and turned to head home. "I don't see why you don't understand that. You were incapacitated within his lands. At the very least, it would be his duty to keep an eye on you while you were as defenceless as you were. I just happened to get there before you woke up."

Jolting at the words, Kagome jogged to catch up, looking up at him when she was in step. "Do you think he knows anything about what happened? I had no idea I crossed the border." Then she frowned and looked down. "That does explain things a little though."

Glancing down, Kouga hummed. "What does about what?"

Kagome shook her head and sighed. "Inuyasha won't cross into the West."

Kouga snorted. "To the first part of the question, no. If he did, he would have told me. As to the mutt refusing to enter into the land of his birth, he's more of a bitch than I thought. Those lands are just as much his responsibility as they are Sesshoumaru's, and it's actually quite sickening to hear he won't even step foot on them."

Narrowing her eyes, Kagome snipped. "In his defence, Sesshoumaru has tried to kill him in the past, and threatened to do so again if Inuyasha is ever caught on his lands."

Rolling his eyes, Kouga stopped, grabbed Kagome's arm, and hoisted her over his shoulder, much like the first time he ever took her to the den. Taking off at breakneck speed, Kouga spoke loud enough to be heard over the wind his running created. "He's a bitch. It's against demonic law to kill an heir to the lands, and you know as well as I do, Sesshoumaru is all about law and order. Neither might acknowledge it, but the mutt is a western heir by birthright."

Tucking her chin, Kagome closed her eyes and called back. "I'll take your word for it."

Knowing the moment they started to ascend the mountain, Kagome held on tighter and waited for it to be over, hoping her stomach would find her again since it was once again left at the bottom.


	5. Chapter 5

An hour after full dark, Kagome sat next to Kouga, along with many of the other tribe members, around a large bonfire. They had already eaten the large boar that had been caught, and Kagome couldn't remember a time when after dinner was so carefree and relaxing. There was always something for her to do, beit clean-up or fetching water, fighting with Inuyasha because no one else wanted to move on to somewhere else and he did, or fighting about whether or not there was enough wood to make it until morning.

At the moment, she was laughing at a story being told by one of the other men of the tribe while the cubs ran around the cliffs under the watchful eyes of the whole tribe. Every so often, someone would call out over the speaking wolf to 'mind the ledge' or 'that's high enough' or even 'stay within the fire light because it's too dark to wonder off'. When something was said to the cubs, all other conversations stopped and all eyes looked at the little ones. Kagome actually saw them counting to make sure they were all accounted for. Only once did shit hit the fan, when one of the youngest wasn't part of the head count. Never in her life had she seen so many bodies move at once, and no one sat back down until she was found.

Kouga was actually the one who found her just beyond the tree line. He came back with her, tossing her in the air to make her laugh before he set her on her feet, gave her a push toward the other cubs with a command to stay where she could be seen.

When he retook his seat, he sat down closer to Kagome, and slung his arm over her shoulders. Winking at her when she smiled at him, he waved to Kimo to continue his story. Kagome simply settled into his side, listening to the story that went on like there was no interruption at all.

Another thing that struck her was that no one questioned a damn thing when she and Kouga showed up at the den in the hours prior. All that happened was the two of them were attacked by the cubs, both demon and actual animal. Though with a wave of Kouga's hand, the little ones were off to their next adventure. The others of the tribe just called out a greeting or waved as they passed. No one asked what happened to her or how she and Kouga ended up mated like they were. She was sure they drew their own conclusions, but no one said a word about it. They just dipped their heads. Ginta and Hakkaku, who she knew pretty well, welcomed her with exuberation, but still didn't question shit. If anyone would have, she would have expected it from them.

In the last few hours, Kagome learned what Kouga meant about everyone looking out for everyone else, from the top all the way down to the bottom, though there was clearly preferential treatment when it came to her and Kogua.

Kouga barely made it through the opening to the cave before he was all but accosted by an very old looking female wolf, and Kagome was torn away from him by a handful of the other woman present. While Kouga found it beyond amusing, Kagome would have been lying if she said it wasn't a little unnerving. She did find out that the old woman was the tribal healer, who didn't sound overly happy with Kouga for taking off without her allowance, since he was so hurt from that arrow. Kouga, in his normal way, laughed her off and told her he was fine.

As for Kagome at the hands of the other females at the den, she was relieved of her dirty and stained clothing, then fitted for an outfit more conducive to the tribe itself. It was the same brown fur everyone else wore, and it came in two pieces. The top was basically a tube top with a thick strap that tied behind her neck to keep it up, with two points where it tied closed on her right side. The bottom was pretty much just like the skirt she always wore, only made of fur and not cotton. The top did overhang the bottom enough to not show stomach unless she actually stretched. On top of the new outfit, she got a much needed -in Kagome's opinion- bath. Once she was clean and dressed, the woman went about preparing the rest of the meal, making sure there was enough for everyone, to go with the boar the men caught and were in the process of cleaning. They also worked together like a well oiled machine. Everyone had their own job to do, and no one had any complaints when it came to doing it.

For Kagome, it was so weird to be told 'no' when she asked if there was anything she could help with, since dinner time and setting up the camp was almost solely her responsibility. Sure, Inuyasha and Miroku gathered firewood, but that was about all the help she ever got. Even Sango didn't really help with anything, being more concerned with her weapon than anything else until she smelled food. So, out of what started as boredom, she had decided to play with the cubs, since every time she so much as looked at something that needed to be done, she was shooed off like she was one of the cubs.

And the little ones LOVED it. Though she was nearly ran ragged, she had a lot of fun chasing them around and learning how to play their games -which she very quickly figured out they made up as they went along. Oh, they all knew how the rules went, but not a one of them felt it was necessary to teach them to her. So, it was with a wide grin and deep, rumbling chuckle, she changed shit up on them, easily turning the tables. She was even able to lure Milo, the oldest of the cubs and the one that was still shaken up from the attack on Kouga from the day before, into a game of freeze tag.

Kouga, though off to the side, watched with rapt attention at the interaction between Kagome and the cubs. He had always known she was good with kids, but he wasn't sure she would actually able to handle the rambunctious cubs, who took great pleasure in torturing whoever it was that was in charge of them at any given moment. She did it flawlessly, however, and he would be lying if he didn't envision how she would be with their own cubs when that time came. It was pretty easy to shove the thought aside, but it was still there.

When she was able to drag Milo out of the funk he had been in since the clearing the day before, the cub's father had given Kouga a nod of thanks, since not even he was able to get his son over the shock of the amount of blood Kouga had lost. Kouga had just shrugged back. He hadn't done shit. It was all Kagome, but if nothing else, it certainly rose the new alpha female in the eyes of the rest of the tribe.

When it was time to eat, Kouga and Kagome were fed first, followed by the cubs, then the others. It was pretty clear where people stood by the way they were served, but even the lowest of the pack had plenty to eat. Once all the demons were fed, the rest went to the actual animals, and they were also well fed. They were a little less inclined to share the meat with certain wolves, but they all did get some when Kouga snapped at them to stop being little fuckers to the runts.

It was well past dark and they were still around the fire, though the women did venture off to collect the cubs and get them cleaned up. For being told they weren't civilized, Kagome had to question that, if they didn't think they were, what was their definition of civilized. There were families in her time that didn't work together as well as they did, and they certainly didn't make sure everyone had enough to eat before busting their own gut with the amount of food they glutted themselves with.

With a hum, Kagome did leave the gathering shortly after the other ladies did, wanting to help if they would let her, but wasn't all that surprised when she was told they didn't need it. Instead, she sat at the lake's edge, watching with a smile as the cubs splashed and played about while the women tried to at least get a layer of yuck off their skins. To her, the cubs were doing a better job at cleaning up the adults than the other way around.

When she felt a set of arms wrap around her shoulders, Kagome leaned back into the chest behind her, turning her head to look at Kouga's profile with a small smile.

Kouga looked at her from the corner of his eyes. "You wanna play in the water too, don't you?"

Pursing her lips, Kagome shook her head. "No. Just an extra set of eyes and hands if needed. And, to be honest, with these little hellions, eventually they'll stop telling me no."

Kouga snorted hard. "Don't hold your breath. Short of having your own cub in there, it's very, very unlikely. This is mother and child bonding time, though it might not look like it. During the day, there are other things to be done, so they don't get a lot of one on one time with them once the cub gets out of infancy. It might look chaotic, but every single female in there is well aware of where her cub is, and what the cub is doing."

Nodding, Kagome laid her head on Kouga's shoulder with a grunt of acknowledgment, doing her best to swallow back the yawn. She was completely worn out, and felt like she could sleep for a year.

Kouga felt it though. Tucking his chin so he could see her face, he lifted a brow. "Tired?"

again, Kagome nodded. "Exhausted. Between everything that happened today, and that absolutely delicious boar, I could sleep right here, for week."

Kouga hummed in his throat. "I don't doubt it. It's been a pretty exciting day, hasn't it?"

Picking her head up, Kagome again turned to look at Kouga, this time seeing his face since it was still angled to look at her. "Speaking of," lowering her voice so only he could hear her, "why has no one asked about it?"

Kouga's face turned thoughtful for a moment before he shrugged. "I'm sure they have all come to their own decisions of how this came to be. I'm sure most of them remember you from the last time you were here. I am pretty sure I said something about you being my woman then. They know I rarely don't get what I want. Probably assume I just wore you down over the last couple of years."

Narrowing her eyes, Kagome nodded slowly. "I see."

His face then became challenging. "Do you want to tell them how it actually happened? Be my guest, but I really doubt they care."

Though Kagome grunted in agreement, she was quick to change the subject when she pointed to the water. "Where were all of them when I was here before?"

Kouga cocked his head to the side. "Well, if you remember, we were having issues with the Birds of Paradise at the time. I told you, we protect everyone within the tribe. The womenfolk and the cubs were relocated while we tried to deal with the birds, but with the leader having those shards, it was harder and took longer than we would have liked. I mean, they were eating full grown men. These cubs and their mothers wouldn't have stood a chance. The best protection for them was being anywhere but here."

Kagome blinked at the answer. Sure, she agreed, she just didn't think such extremes would have been taken after hearing about how heartless and barbaric the wolf tribes were. She well remembered the Birds of Paradise and the debatical they made on the mountain. They were a pain in the ass and left Kouga with a nasty looking scar on his arm. Absentmindedly, her eyes dropped to look at it. Though it had faded quite a bit since the shard he had was ripped out of his arm, it could still be seen, even in just the light of the moon. Wrapping her fingers around the healed injury, she gently ran them across Kouga's skin with a nod. "I remember. I remember everything but, like, the last eight hours or so. It was about midday when I drank that water and it was what? Just over an hour till sunset when I woke up?"

Kouga clicked his tongue. "About that, yeah. Don't worry. If what happened is that important to you, we'll find your answers. Might take some time, but we will."

Kagome shook her head. "That's just it, Kouga. It's not, though. I mean, it would be nice to know what was done to us, but does it really matter in the end? You basically said what's done is done and there is nothing that will undo it."

Kouga corrected her. "That I know of, there isn't. I also said I know nothing about magic. I stay away from it because nothing good ever comes from messing with shit you can't possibly understand."

Nodding to him, Kagome couldn't bite back the yawn another time, and when Kouga heard her jaw crack, he slid an arm under her knees and around her back, hoisting her into his arms. Once she was settled with her head on his shoulder, Kouga told the few remaining mothers and cubs it was time to pack it in for the night.

Once he got the expected agreements, he turned away, carrying Kagome back up to the cave to put her to bed.


	6. Chapter 6

Shooting bolt upright, Kagome was quick to cover her mouth to cover the shriek that wanted to break free. Eyes darting around the dimly lit cave to make sure she didn't wake anyone up, she let out a hard breath when she didn't see any eyes looking her way. Kouga was still laying next to where she was, completely undisturbed, with an arm under his head. He had removed his armor and sword when he laid down, and the fur pelt he had been under at the start of the night had bunched at his hips, uncovering his chest and very well defined abs. He wasn't actually supposed to be on his back because of the arrow injury, but he looked so peaceful, Kagome decided to leave him alone and let him face the wrath of the medicine woman when she saw him.

Running a hand down her face, Kagome slowly got to her feet and began the monumental task of leaving the cave for some fresh air. The way sleeping arrangements were laid out, there, it only got harder the closer she got the exit. She and Kouga were at the very back of the cave on a bed of straw and fur. Surrounding them was a ring of wolves, followed by the cubs and their mothers, another round of wolves, the men, then the last of the wolves guarding the mouth of the cave.

She made it the ring of wolves in the middle before she heard anything. To her utter shock, it was one of the wolves. It wasn't that she ended up waking up and animal with astounding enough hearing to hear a mouse a mile away, but that when it yipped at her, she actually understood the damn thing. She whipped around with wide eyes and a lax jaw. She stuttered slightly, but got her tongue working enough to whisper to it. "Did you say something?"

When the animal yipped at her again, it sounded strangely like it asking her if she was alright. Blinking, she nodded and put a finger to her lips. "I'm fine. Just need some air." Holding a hand up when it looked like it was going to move, Kagome shook her head. "Stay." Cocking a brow at the thing when it shook its head, Kagome put a little more force in her voice. "I mean it."

Though the wolf glanced to Kouga, it laid its head back down when she gave him the stink eye. Once she was confident the wolf wasn't going to follow her, she gave a jerky nod and continued to carefully pick her way over sleeping bodies until she was free of the cave and back on the cliffs. Not expecting the nip in the arm, she wrapped her arms around herself and made her way back down to the small lake that was made by a waterfall and rocks.

The full moon and bright stars made it easy to see where she was going and, when she reached the water's edge, Kagome squatted down. For a long moment, she just looked at her now blue eyes, shifting her focus then to her ears after she tucked her hair back. Following the points with the pad of a finger, she sighed and shook her head, cupped her hands and scooped up some water for a drink.

Shaking the water off her hands after she did so, she draped her hands over her thighs, frowning at her reflection as her dream once again ran through her mind. She had been right about Kikyo having something to do with her current situation, but she hadn't known Naraku was also involved. She might not have been completely awake or aware, but she was enough so to hear most of the conversation that followed her throwing up her riki. She didn't hear anything after the proclamation of her being mated to Kouga, but everything before that was now crystal clear to her.

Looking up at the moon, Kagome's nose wrinkled. It was almost like it was mocking her with its tranquilness and brightness. Eyes narrowing, she growled in her throat, picked up a rock and stood. Looking back at her reflection, she bared her newly acquired fangs and threw the rock into the water, shattering not only the picture looking back at her, but also the silence around her.

Shaking her head, she turned away from the water. With her arms crossed, she looked up the cliffs, back to the den she exited a half hour ago if she were to guess. Everyone inside there had a reason, a purpose, something they were responsible for. Then there was her, a new addition with literally nothing to do but get in the way.

Running her hands down her face, Kagome laced her fingers together in front of her mouth as she looked back at the water. She didn't want the thought to surface, but it did. She thought about her family back home and what they were going to think if they ever saw her again. She pretty much knew she wasn't going home the way she came, and she also knew demons weren't around in her time.

Dropping her arms, Kagome looked at the ground, a frown on her face. What were her odds of ever seeing her family again knowing those two things? Did Kikyo take that into consideration when she decided to take away her riki? Did she even spare any of that a second thought? There had to be a better way to get what she wanted without taking everything. Then again, if there was, Kagome couldn't see it either, so how would someone that couldn't see past their own nose.

With a hard sigh, Kagome walked over the edge of the cliff she was on and sat down with her legs dangling below her. Gripping the edge of the rocks, Kagome looked straight down. A small smile graced her lips at the sight of a tiny field mouse sniffing around on the next ledge down. She wanted what that mouse had. A reason to be out in the middle of the night and not feel so aimless.

She was so lost in thought, she didn't hear someone come up behind her, so she jumped slightly when she felt something warm and soft get wrapped around her shoulders. Head snapping to the side, she came nose to nose with the concerned face of Kouga. Looking at her shoulder, she saw a fur pelt draped off her shoulders, making her give him a half smile as she wrapped it tighter around her. Clearing her throat, she licked her lips. "What are you doing up?"

Kouga looked her over, making sure she was physically alright before answering. "Doshi woke me when you didn't come back." Looking back at her, he cocked a brow. "Fresh air, hmm?"

Kagome's face went flat. "He told on me?"

There was no hesitation at all in his answer. "You're damn straight. He's _my_ wolf. He might not have had you come back, but since you didn't." Giving her a pointed look, to which she looked away from, Kouga then sighed and took a seat behind her on the ground, his legs to either side of her, and wrapped his arms around her waist. Propping his chin on her shoulder, he looked at her profile. "Talk to me. What's going on, Kagome?"

Looking back over the side of the cliff, Kagome shook her head. "I just had a bad dream, that's all."

Leaning to the side and dipping his head, he saw her glance his way, so he prompted. "About?"

Kagome's voice was barely there when she answered. "What happened."

Lifting a hand, Kouga cupped her cheek and turned her to look at him. "It was a dream, Koi."

Kagome disagreed. "It wasn't. It was too real. It wasn't just Kikyo, Kouga. It was Naraku, too. He gave her the spell to take my power to restore her life. She told him that you can't take a gift from the Kami without replacing it with something else. You have a powerful aura, and it was use to do just that. She used you, to steal my power. Naraku is going to win, because of her."

Humming in his throat, but pretty sure that wasn't all that was wrong, Kouga clicked his tongue. "What else?" When she blinked at him, he smiled back. "I can smell it, Kagome. Tell me what's really bothering you. I can't fix what I don't know it wrong."

Kagome shook her head and looked away. "You can't fix this anyway, though I thank you for offering to try." When Kouga only cocked a brow in response, she sighed again and told him the rest of the thoughts she had while she was by the lake.

Kouga listened to everything she had to say. Over the course of her talking, he had moved them back from the ledge and repositioned how Kagome was sitting. Instead of her back being to his chest, she was sitting sideways in his lap, her legs hanging over his, and he was leaned back supported by his hands. When she finally fell silent, he remained quiet himself for a moment longer, sorting through it so he could focus on the worst of her issues first.

When he was satisfied with his own thoughts, he looked back at his subdued mate. "You're right, I can't fix all of it. Most of it, but not all of it. There isn't a whole lot I can do about a time that hasn't even happened yet, but that's the part you need to focus on. Your time hasn't happened yet, and there is a lot of time between now and then. Things change. They always do. Remember that, alright?" When she nodded, he refocused on the Kikyo and Naraku thing. "As for the spell thing. Sure. A spell took your powers. That was never up for debate. There wouldn't have been another way that shit could have happened."

Sitting up, he wrapped his arms around her. "That said, however," leaning in and slowly nuzzling his nose to hers, "this isn't magic. This is instinct." Pulling back only enough to see her eyes, he continued. "I was miles in the wrong direction, but I knew the moment you drank my blood and exactly where you were. Its... primal for us. It's waiting, always, just below the surface, for our mate to appear. When they do, it rears up and shows itself. You have no idea how hard it is to fight against."

Something in her cracked at his words, and broke wide open at his closeness. Kagome saw a brow raise on Kouga's face, but said nothing for a moment longer. She then leaned in, nose to nose. Her voice was colored in something she couldn't name and there was a knot in her stomach she didn't understand when she spoke.

"You're right. I don't."

Running the tip of her tongue over her bottom lip, she closed the last precious space between then and softly pressed her lips to his. It was an invitation more than anything. She had no idea what she was doing. She could only hope he wouldn't hold that against her later.

Though he had been mildly surprised to see red wisps start to swirl in her eyes, the moment Kagome's lips touched his, all rational thought left Kouga's mind. One of his hands came up and threaded in her hair as he coached his mate into a little more active participation. She was tentative, but not unwilling. When he nipped at her lips, he felt her hands set lightly against his bare chest.

When she didn't immediately part her lips at his request, Kouga pulled back, looking in her red eyes. "You okay? We can stop."

For the fear lacing her scent, Kagome was quick to shake her head. "No, it's not that. It's just... um." Licking her lips, she let out a calming breath and tried again. "I mean, I've never done..." Feeling the encroaching awkward, she shrugged. "I don't know what to do with my hands."

Cocking a brow with a smirk, Kouga moved faster than Kagome was ready for, and laid her on her back, pinning her arms above her head with one of his as he perched himself over her. He chuckled as he dipped his head back down, his lips brushing hers when he spoke. "Then we'll just take them out of the equation."

The feel of his hips against hers made Kagome's breath he re-sealed their lips, she arched into him, adhering to his next request for entrance. Though she wasn't wholly sure what she was doing, he was patient with her as she figured it out.

Kouga didn't even try to swallow the growl as their tongues danced. He had literally dreamed of this moment for a handful of years, but had no idea just how little justice he had actually done her.

With the hand not holding hers hostage, he slowly slid it down her side, stopping at each of the two ties holding the fur top closed before moving back up against her bare skin, growling again when she arched harder against him.

So lost in the feel of what was being done to her, it wasn't until she felt the coolness of the against her now bare chest she came back to herself and broke their kiss with a gasp. Panting, she looked up at Kouga, her voice airy. "What if someone sees us?"

Humming in his throat, he reached down to pull the tie of Kagome's skirt, his own voice bathed in a growl.

"Let 'em watch."


	7. Chapter 7

"Why does none of this look familiar?"

Kouga cracked an eye open to look over at his mate, who looked as confused as she sounded. Pushing himself up so he was propped on his hands, he tilted his head to the side. "You're seeing everything with new eyes, that's why. Relax, Kagome. You've been here before."

Frowning, she looked over her shoulder at Kouga, who looked the definition of relaxed the way he was lounging in the grass. They were at the border of the East and West, waiting for Sesshoumaru to show up. Kouga had sent his wolves out at first light, some with the orders to find Inuyasha and the rest, and a handful of others to find the Western Lord.

The wolves that were sent after Sesshoumaru had no issues with finding him, but they had yet to hear anything from the ones looking for Kagome's friends. The reason for hunting down Sesshoumaru was pretty simple as far as Kouga was concerned. His mate was still worried about the involvement of Naraku, and Sesshoumaru was as into the hunt for the spider as everyone else was. That, and the Inu Lord had this knack for finding his brother like no one else. If nothing else, Kouga figured he might be able to point them in the right direction.

Kagome, however, was having a hell of a time with the separation from her kit. She did alright with it until they crossed paths with a group of four of them. Ever since, it seemed to be all encompassing for her to find him. They had been waiting on Sesshoumaru for only a half hour, but every minute that ticked by you could literally see the tightening of her shoulders.

When the relative silence was shattered by the howl of a wolf, Kouga turned his head that direction with a nod. "The dog approaches."

Hearing his words, Kagome turned to face him, her arms loosely wrapped around her middle. There was hope in her eyes, but fear in her voice. "He really doesn't like me, Kouga. Are you sure this is a good idea?"

Standing, Kouga walked over to his mate, setting his hands on her hips while smiling at her. "The fluffy bastard doesn't like any human. He's actually not so bad as long as you don't piss him off. I think you'll be just fine."

Before Kagome could saw another word, a new voice sounded on the air. "Your animals are as crass as ever, Lord Kouga."

Kagome's eyes snapped to the pristinely kept western lord before going back to Kouga. "Lord?"

Kouga just shrugged. "I don't like titles." He then looked over at Sesshoumaru and smirked. "Well, they are animals. Can't expect miracles from them."

Face never changing, Sesshoumaru crossed his arms. "Hn." Shifting his eyes to the demoness in the Eastern Lord's arms, he quipped. "Miko. What have gotten yourself into this time?"

Kagome just dropped her eyes. "It wasn't my fault."

Sesshoumaru looked hard at her. "Nothing ever is, is it?" Seeing the girl flinch at his words, he returned his sights to Kouga. "You called me here for what reason, Lord Kouga?"

Looking back and forth between his mate and the Western Lord, Kouga frowned slightly, but answered the question. "We're looking for your brother."

A brow rose up Sesshoumaru's forehead. "That would be two of us. He hasn't been seen since Miko showed up on my lands yesterday, and quite human at the time."

Kagome swallowed hard. "That's why we need to find him and the others. Kikyo made a deal with Naraku to steal my powers."

Sesshoumaru pressed his lips together as he looked at the no longer human miko before him. "That damnable human. And, I take it she succeeded."

Kagome hated how his questions always sounded like statements. Still, she nodded and gave him the cliff note version of the last twenty-four hours, only succeeding in irritating the inu more with each word. By the time she was done, Sesshoumaru looked like he would take _her_ head for what happened.

He thought about it, too. Eastern Lady or not, this was unacceptable. Scratching a claw between his closed eyes, Sesshoumaru clicked his tongue. "So, the dead Miko is once again alive, in full possession of both hers and your powers, yet no one seems to know where she's hiding. Inuyasha has vanished into what seems to be thin air. Your human friends are also missing, and the spider had a hand in all of this as well." Feeling a headache beginning to take hold, he sighed. "This is certainly a mess and proves why magic must not be used for personal gain."

Kagome frowned deep and spoke low. "What do we do?"

Kouga and Sesshoumaru looked at one another before Sesshoumaru spoke again. "Find out what spell took your power and figure out how to reverse it, or if it even can be any longer. The amount of Holy energy you once possessed would be far more than needed to kill you. It was enough to kill countless demons, of which you now are. Demons aren't meant to wield riki, and our bodies are not equipped to contain it. There is a very good likelihood, should the spell that took your power be reversed, it will kill you."

Kagome just blinked. "How do you know so much about Mikos?"

Sesshoumaru lifted a shoulder. "I have been alive a long time, my father longer than I. He once told stories of a time when demons and mikos lived together in peace. Then, as is so common with humans, darkness began to take hold of the pure hearted, and they began to steal the powers held by others. As the legend goes, The Kami did not take kindly to having their children slaughtered for selfish gain, and put into effect rules regarding their gifts. You cannot take without replacing, as what happened here. Being the reincarnation of the dead one, you would have been the easiest target because what you had was once hers. However, Rule of the Kami are infallible. She would still need to replace your riki with a comparable substitute."

Kagome nodded once. She had been raised to believe the Kami were not to be questioned, but in this sense, she had a lot of them. With a sigh, she dropped her arms. "Legends are lessons, right? Born from truth and not to be questioned."

Sesshoumaru nodded. "A teaching that transcends time itself."

Making a face, Kagome looked back and forth between the two male demons with her. "So, back the to the question of what do we do? If Kikyo worked with Naraku to get my power, is it really out of the realm of possibility for her to do so again to keep it?" She shook her head. "Jesus. Who the hell is the bigger enemy, here? Naraku, or is it actually Kikyo? At least when Naraku does something, it's right in front of you. His end game is known and he never misses a chance to reiterate for those that have no idea all the fucker wants to be a full blooded demon."

Once the gates opened on Kagome's thoughts on the matter, she couldn't close them again and just unloaded on the two demons with her.

"And, fucking Inuyasha is too up the bitch's ass to _see_ it. She could literally come at him, from the front with a dagger aimed at his heart, and he would just stand there and let her stab him. This whole fucked up situation is _their_ doing. Had he just let shit go, we wouldn't be _in_ this mess. Had the two of them actually cared about each other like they said they did, Naraku wouldn't have had the power over them he did, and _none_ of this would have happened. If she had not been such a selfish twat and just done her Kami given duty instead of trying to get out of it, the jewel would have been gotten rid of instead of passed on to me.

"This isn't even my fucking time! I have no business being here. I was ripped from my normal life and dragged down a well, into the past, and forced to do a lot of shit I was not equipped to do. And now, I more than likely can never go home and will probably never see my family again because some selfish whore couldn't just fucking die and stay dead."

Pausing and glaring at the two dumbstruck demons, she snapped. "So, yeah, I have to question who the fuck is really the enemy here. At least with Naraku, what you see is what you get."

When Sesshoumaru went to open his mouth again, Kouga cut him off by hold a hand up and glaring his direction. "Those..." When he was sure the dog was going to stay quiet, he turned his sights on his pissed off mate. "Are some very good points. But remember what I said last night. Time changes and the future isn't set yet. We can't change what already happened, but we can change what will. In your time, this already happened, but in this time, it hasn't. We'll figure it out, Kagome. I promise."

She growled at him. "You can't promise that."

He held up his hands. "I just did, and you need to calm down."

Kagome's eyes went wide. "Calm down? There is no calm down, here, Kouga."

Kouga gave her a slightly harder look. "There needs to be, or you're going to shift. Deep breaths, and settle down."

At the statement, Sesshoumaru looked at the younger lord. "I have known you nearly your whole life. How was I unaware you have two forms?"

Kouga never look his eyes off his mate, who was doing as he said and trying to calm down. "Because I can control my temper. Now, stop riling her up and trying to piss her off. Females in our true form are not easy to handle, and are really hard to stop." Glancing at the older demon, he added, "She did make a pretty valid point, though."

Sesshoumaru hummed in his throat, returning his attention to the female that was now crouched to the ground with her fingers in her hair, breathing deep and slow, and nodded. "She did. Still, the spider cannot be allowed to obtain the whole jewel, and now, neither can Inuyasha."

Kouga crossed his arms. "As long as I don't lose mine, neither one will. But, we both know it's only a matter of time before they are come for, since both of them know I have them."

Sesshoumaru crossed his arms again. "Is your mate in possession of the ones she had before the dead one took her riki?"

Kouga shook his head. "No. They were in her bag with the mutt."

"I assume you have your wolves searching for the hanyou."

Kouga nodded at that one. "Since daybreak, but it's a pretty big island, and there's a lot of ground to cover."

Sesshoumaru nodded. "Have you been to the village by the well?"

"That's our next stop, but that's a day run from here. She's still getting used to not being human."

Cocking a brow at the Eastern Lord, Sesshoumaru regarded him for a moment before turning his sights on the still angry demoness.

"Miko, while you have made some good points, you yourself are not without your own faults. It was you who released Inuyasha from the God's Tree. It was you who broke the jewel in the first place, was it not? Everything you have been through in the last four years is no one's doing but your own. Every life lost because of that jem is on you as well."

Horrified, Kouga lunged at Sesshoumaru, shoving him hard from behind, and making the inu stumble. "What the fuck are you doing?"

Glaring at the wolf, Sesshoumaru responded in his normally icy tone. "Pointing out other very good points. It's so easy to cast the blame on others, but the blame lies with her."

Snarling at the dog, Kouga snapped his fangs. "I'm going to kill you."

Sesshoumaru smirked as he looked to where the newly changed demoness was no longer at. "I'm certain you'll try. For now, however, you might want to keep your mate on course."

Also seeing his mate gone, and a trail of overly large foot prints where she just was, Kouga glared. "You're an asshole, Dog."

Sesshoumaru shrugged and turned away. "Maybe, but that makes my tactics very effective. I'll be in touch."


	8. Chapter 8

It hadn't taken Kouga long to catch up with his mate, though it was quite difficult to keep her heading in the direction he wanted her to go. In his true form, Kouga was slightly smaller than Sesshoumaru was in his, but no less magnificent in the eyes of the humans as he ran with his mate, snapping at her every so often when she tried to veer off course to the well. However, it was much harder to control the power in his hind legs in this form, the jewel shards did make his agility that much tighter, making it easier to stay next to his much smaller mate.

Running in their true form cut the day run down to less than half, and when they closed in on the well, Kouga got in front of Kagome, refusing to let her go anywhere without getting back in her path. He barked the instructions on how to shift back, but it took nearly an hour for Kagome to settle down long enough for the commands to sink in, then for her to follow them.

In the end, it was seeing the well that shocked her system enough to allow her to revert back to humanoid form, and she was subdued when she did. Kouga tried to get her to come out of it, but nothing he said helped, cementing in his mind he was gonna fuck up that dog when he saw him again.

He kept a little distance from her as she stood at the side of the well, her hand on the weathered wood, a frown on her face. When she spoke, her voice was empty. "I can't feel it's magic anymore." She looked down the well a moment longer before she looked at Kouga. "Sesshoumaru was right, you know. This is all my fault."

Kouga snorted and decided distance was overrated. Moving to her side, he grabbed her by the hips and sat her down on the ledge of the well, then stood between her legs. He dipped his head, forcing her to look him in the eyes. When she did, he gave her a serious look. "No, it's not. None of this is your fault. You're a victim of circumstance, Kagome, pulled into something you should have had nothing to do with."

She dropped her eyes. "Naraku is going to win."

Kouga snorted again, much harder this time. "He's a hanyou, and not even a real one at that. Without all his smoke and mirrors, or those fucking incarnations, he's nothing, and he knows it. He's a weak, pathetic product of selfish desire. Without the shards he already has, he wouldn't even have what he does. He's nothing without the Shikon, and he knows that, too. I'll tell you another thing. The only way he is getting the whole jewel is literally over my dead body, because that's the only way he'll get my shards. How many times has he tried, and failed, to do that? He's not going to win shit."

Kagome sighed and looked off to the side. "Kami help me but, I think... I think he should."

Kouga actually jerked back at the statement. "Beg pardon?"

Forcing him to let her up, Kagome began to pace, one hand crossed over her chest and the other fisted in front of her mouth as she let her mind run away with the though. Three minutes later, she turned and looked back at Kouga, holding her hands up when she saw the look she was getting. "Hear me out. Naraku has always been upfront with what he intends to do, right? He wants to be a full demon. Full demons can still be killed. Once the jewel is gone, he loses everything he has because of it. His incarnations, all his smoke and mirrors, everything. Also, that's a selfish wish. He would doom himself to being sucked inside of it to fight against the purest and strongest miko of all time. Sure, the jewel wouldn't be purified, but an unselfish wish would do just that. The jewel would be purified, Midoriko's soul would be released, and Naraku would be gone."

When Kouga opened his mouth, Kagome cut him off. "What's the alternative? We don't know what Kikyo's endgame is, or what she would do with the jewel. We DO know she doesn't want to be the one responsible to protect it. We can HOPE she tries to do what was planned for it fifty five years ago, and that she'll once again be able to talk Inuyasha into wishing to be human, but I'm not convinced that'll work anymore. Inuyasha is more comfortable in his skin now than he was. He's been accepted for being a hanyou, and doesn't want to be a full demon anymore, not after the first time his demon blood took over. It wouldn't be unselfish for him to wish that part of him away anymore, because he's scared of it. It would be a relief to be rid of it, and that's not unselfish. One of the two of them will end up with the whole jewel. That much no one can dispute. I'm just not sure which one is the lesser of the two evils vying for it."

As Kouga listened to her, he once again had to admit she made a solid argument. However, he still did have a few thoughts on the matter. Crossing his arms, he propped himself on the side of the well with a nod. "Yeah, I guess that's true. But, there is another option." When Kagome cocked a brow, he went on. "You continue doing what you have been doing. Continue gathering the shards, you get the whole jewel, and you wish it away, just like you have been planning to do for the last four years. Just because you're no longer human doesn't make you any less of the person you were two days ago. And so what if you can't see the shards anymore? Naraku never could and he's found the lionshare of the damn things. He's just... really motivated."

Kagome snorted. "Yeah, that's one way to put it, I suppose."

Kouga just smiled at her. "My point is, even without your powers, you're not as helpless as you think. As a matter of fact, you're a lot stronger in a lot of ways, Kagome, and much harder to kill."

Kagome shook her head. "Kikyo can. She has the power to do that now."

Kouga shrugged. "Your point? If she wanted you dead, you would be. She only needed you alive long enough to cast the spell and you to expel your riki. Once she had it, there would have been no reason to let you live. Whatever she has planned, she needs you alive for something. It looks more to me like she needed you out of the way."

Kagome scratched her temple. "Naraku said something about this being about Inuyasha."

Kouga snorted. "It's always about the mutt, ain't it?"

Kagome glared. "Kouga."

He just shrugged. "What? It is. Since the day we met, it's been about him. Whether or not you think so, I am actually allowed to be upset about that. Especially now." When she blinked at him, Kouga elaborated. "Let's look at this from my perspective, shall we? I'll even go with your demand that all of this is the result of some spell that was cast, and I'll even include that, magic put my blood in your veins. Magic did it all." He pointed at her. "That mark on your neck? That appeared there last night when I bit you, with your consent. There was nothing magical about it, not in the spell since, anyway. Now, you _consented_ to a full mating, then stand there and talk about another guy you are well aware I don't like, like you still care about him."

Kagome still didn't understand what the problem was. "Yeah, I do still care about him. He's my friend that I will remind you has been with me since day one, and has saved my life more times than I can count. I'm allowed to care about him."

Kouga narrowed his eyes. "And I'm allowed to take issue with that."

Kagome glared back. "Tell me you don't care about a single female back at the den."

Kouga held up a finger. "That's different. Those females are part of my pack, my fucking family. Inuyasha is a man you, at one time, were in love with. You are _my bonded_ _mate_ , that I have been in love with for four Kami damned years. I'm allowed to be pissed off right now. You, on the other hand, aren't. You have nothing to BE pissed off about. You _chose_ me, or you wouldn't actually carry a mating mark on your neck. You said yes, when I told you you didn't have to. Truthfully, you need to realize Inuyasha made his bed long before you ever came here. It's about time you stepped back and let him lay in it."

Kagome looked at him, struck speechless. She had no response to anything he just said, and the longer she looked at him, the worse she felt. Scrubbing her face with her hands, she laced her fingers together and sighed. "Kouga, I... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make it sound like it did. It's just..."

Clicking his tongue, Kouga crossed his arms and stood, slowly walking toward his mate. "I understand your attachment to the mutt, Kagome. What you need to understand is my attachment to you." Grabbing her wrist, he pulled her into his arms, wrapping his arms around her waist before lacing his fingers together behind her back. Looking down at her, his eyes were soft, having no signs of the anger he showed a moment ago. "You're everything to me, and were long before this shit happened. Last night you said something about feeling out of place because there was nothing for you to do. You had nothing to do because I didn't want you to. I want you to enjoy life, not worry about chores or others like you always do. When was the last time you got to relax before a meal? When was the last time you literally had nothing you needed to do right in that moment? When was the last time you just got to have some fun? There will be time for inclusion and chores, Kagome. For now, I want you to actually be happy with the situation, and stop trying to explain it away or blame it on magic. Magic stole your powers. Feelings created the mating."

Setting her hands on his chest, Kagome looked up at him through her lashes. "I thought you said it was instinct."

Smiling softly at her, Kouga hummed. "Yeah, but all instinct is basic, underlying, unquestionable, feeling. Hunger, rage, desire... three basic feelings that rule instinct. I love you, Kagome. I always have. Not because of some refusal to let go of the past, but because I want the future, and I want it with you."

Smiling slightly, Kagome picked at him. "I thought it was because I could see the jewel."

Chuckling in his throat, Kouga dipped his head, speaking against her lips. "What do I need that jewel for when I have you?"

Kagome had never actually had a swoon moment in her life before then. There had been moments of awkward flattery, or some nice things said about her by men in the past, but when Kouga's lips pressed to hers after that statement, her knees actually gave out. It was only because of Kouga's hold on her waist she didn't hit the ground.

When Kouga pulled back, Kagome bit into her lower lip to hide her smile, but failed miserably. Her voice carried a giggle, and her eyes were bright. "You're going to make this easy, aren't you?"

Grinning and flashing the tip of a fang, Kouga hummed. "What?"

She tapped his chest plate with a claw. "Falling in love with you."

Kouga shrugged and chuckled. "That would be _my_ endgame." Then he winked at her and pulled back, but didn't release her from his arms. "So, what do you want to do, Kagome? We can go to the village, or we can go home. It's up to you." Lowering her eyes, she then cast them toward the path that led to the village. Knowing what she was thinking, Kouga reached up and cupped her cheek, turning her back to face him. "They aren't helpless, Kagome. Inuyasha is a lot of things, most of which aren't that great, but helpless isn't one of them."

A drawn look settled on Kagome's features. "Shippo."

Kouga tsked. "I'll redirect the wolves and have them bring him to you when they find him."

Kagome cocked a brow. "They'll come for your shards."

Kouga shrugged. "We'll deal with that when we have to."

Kagome chuckled, knowing he was going to have an answer for everything. "The tribe will be in danger."

Kouga huffed. "No one is getting anywhere near the den without us finding out well before they get there. Are you done?"

Giggling, Kagome nodded. "Yeah. If you can find Shippo, we can go home."

Nodding, Kouga took a step back, let her go, and held out a hand. "He'll be found by sundown."


	9. Chapter 9

The sound of laughter was broken by the sounds of a chorus of howls, startling everyone on the cliffs.

Kagome was playing a modified game of tag with the cubs when it was heard, making her snap to attention and whip around in the direction it came from. She froze, causing more than one cub to slam into her legs in their continued merriment.

Shippo, who had been sitting on the side since he was out for the round, lept to his feet and bounded over to Kagome, jumping up on her shoulder. His voice shook. "What's going on, Kagome?"

Kagome shook her head, watching as everyone turned their eyes on Kouga as he tore out of the cave, then jumped into the air and landed on the highest landing he could reach. "I don't know." Hearing a whimper at her feet, she then looked down and saw Kienta, the youngest cub of the tribe, wrapped up in a ball with tears in her eyes. Wincing, Kagome crouched and gently took the cub's hands in hers with a strained smile on her face. "Hey, little one. It's alright. Why don't you go see your mama? As a matter of fact," looking at all the cubs, "everyone go to your parents." When no one moved, she used the voice she rarely did, that always got the cubs to listen. "I said, go to your parents. Now."

Though they didn't seem to want to, the cubs did listen and break apart to where their mothers where. Shippo, still shaking on Kagome's shoulder, was shocked enough to cry out when Kagome plucked him off her shoulder and set him on the ground. He looked up at her and whimpered. "Kagome?"

She just smiled at him and pointed. "Go with Milo, Shippo."

Shippo bulked at the command. "But, Kagome!"

She shook her head and narrowed her eyes. "No buts, Shippo. I said go. We don't know what's coming and I don't want you to get hurt."

Before Shippo could continue arguing with her, Kouga's booming voice covered the cliffs. "Alright everyone, get out of here. Rondevu in two days."

Kagome could do nothing but watch as bodies scattered, taking off in singles, pairs, or groups in all different directions. By the time the next chorus of howls was heard, everyone but she, Kouga, and a handful of others remained, Shippo included. Though Kagome cast him a look that clearly told him she wasn't happy, she turned her sights on Kouga when he approached. "It's time, isn't it?"

Kouga nodded to her before waving a hand at his men, telling them without words what he wanted them to do. "Looks like." When he saw his mate frown, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her to him, crooking a finger under her chin to tilt her head back. "We stick to the plan."

Kagome sighed and gave a jerky nod. "Who is it?"

Kouga smirked. "Both of them."

With a gasp, Kagome blinked. "So, they are still working together."

Kouga shrugged while releasing her chin. "I don't think so. One is coming from the north, the other the southwest. We don't have a lot of time before the first one shows up, and I'm not sure which one it'll be. We stick to the plan, and everything will be just fine. Do you have your shards?"

Kagome nodded. "They're in the cave. Still can't believe Inuyasha didn't take them out of my bag when I didn't come back."

Kouga snorted. "Works well for us he didn't. Go get 'em, then get out of here."

Kagome glared. "If you remember, I didn't actually agree to this part of the plan."

Shrugging, Kouga grinned. "I don't care. Split the difference and head due west. If you lose your way, howl, and the wolves will guide you. We might not be able to win, but we can't let either of them win either."

Kagome sighed hard and nodded. "I know. Just... be careful."

Kouga scoffed as he pushed her towards the mouth of the cave. "Never."

Rolling along his palm, Kagome turned back and pounced on him, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her lips hard against his. Kouga responded in kind, leaning back and lifting her feet off the ground. When Kagome broke their kiss, she looked him dead in the eyes. "You better still be alive when I get back, or I'll kill you."

Setting Kagome on her feet, he smiled at her. "Go on." Kouga watched as she ran into the cave for a moment before she reemerged, winking at her before she jumped over the ledge and down the side of the mountain. "I have more than just you to live for, now."

Shippo, who was still on the plateau, hopped up on Kouga's shoulder. "She doesn't know yet, does she?"

Kouga glanced at him before he shook his head. "Nope." Scooping the fox into his palm, Kouga crouched and waited for Shippo to jump to the ground. Glancing to where his mate went over the side, he then licked his lips and looked back at the kit. "You know what to do."

Shippo nodded and bounded over to the side, looking back over his shoulder. "I'll keep them off her trail."

Once Kouga nodded to him, Shippo was off and Kouga went about getting the last of the shit he needed to do done before the fireworks started.

*X*

Kagome ran like she never had before. She also didn't realize how hard it was to move in a straight line through the dense foliage once you got out of the eastern mountains.

She guessed she was about halfway to where she wanted to be when she got turned around, or thought she had, and ended up in a clearing that actually looked familiar to her. What made it hard was, though here was a full moon out, there were a lot of clouds, making it darker and harder to navigate.

Quickly turning in her spot to try and get her bearings, she suddenly wanted to kick her own ass for never one paying attention any of Kouga's hunting instructions when it came to navigation. He went over it all the time with the cubs, and she was pretty sure she could use the information. She was also scared, which did nothing for her rational mind.

It was like a gift from the Kami when the clouds shifted and the forest was illuminated with the light of the full moon. Still, though, she wasn't sure which way she was supposed to go, and she knew she needed to get to where she was going and back to the den as soon as she could so, throwing her head back, she howled.

Everything she felt in the moment was poured into the sound. All the fear, anger, loneliness, everything she didn't need to feel was expelled as she cried out for help from the moon.

She left herself panting when she cut the sounds off, and it wasn't a split moment later she was answered by one of Kouga's wolves, pulling a smile from her lips.

"Doshi."

Looking back to the moon for a moment with a serene look to her eyes and a smile on her face, Kagome was off again, following the path laid by the wolves to the western border, where amused reinforcements waited.

Sesshoumaru looked up from his claws when Kagome slid to a stop a few feet away from him and his men. He looked the Eastern Lady over, ensuring she wasn't harmed during her run. She was pretty dirty, but other than that, she didn't look any worse for the wares. He didn't say a word as he held out a hand to her, Kagome obeying the unspoken command, and dropping the small jar of shards in his palm.

Sesshoumaru looked at the tiny pieces of irritation for a short moment before tossing the jar to one of his men as he stood. "She doesn't get near the mountain, General."

Though the demon who caught the shards nodded, Kagome bulked at the statement. "What? That's not part of the plan, Sesshoumaru. Besides, I've been in fights before, and no one knows my friends like I do."

Sesshoumaru paused and looked back at her. "I am aware of your past, My Lady, but if you mean for me to believe you have been in a squabble in your condition, you will need to be much more convincing."

Blinking at him, her lip curled. "Well, I'll admit I haven't since this whole loss of humanity thing started, but still, the rest of the statement stands."

With an amount of patience he had never shown anyone else but his ward, Sesshoumaru crossed his arms and leveled her with a look. "It is not your race I am referring to. I am referring to the pup that grows within you." When her face was awashed with sheer surprise, Sesshoumaru blinked at her. "You were unaware?"

Grabbing her abdomen, Kagome's jaw was lax as she nodded slowly. "Yeah." Blinking repeatedly, Kagome licked her lips. "We agreed no cubs until this was over."

Sesshoumaru actually rolled his eyes. "That is hardly ever for us to decide. It is still early yet. You have probably not even missed your heat. But, if you listen, you can hear the heartbeat. Because of that, you stay here."

Not giving her time to say another word, or try and argue the decision to keep her pregnant ass out of a fight to the death, Sesshoumaru, as well as the rest of his men sans the General, vanished in flashes of blinding light.

Kagome's shock over finding out she was pregnant melted away to annoyance as she crossed her arms and looked at the General. "Well... this fucking sucks."

The general snorted as he tossed the jar of shards back to the Eastern Lady. "It is for your own good, and the good of your pup, you leave this up to them."

Catching the jar, she turned her hand over and looked at the shards. They were no longer a vibrant pink to her eyes, but they were glowing. Narrowing her eyes, she shifted them to the General. "Do you see that?"

With a cocked brow, the general looked at the jar, but all he saw was seven pieces of dull white. Shaking his head, the general leaned against a tree. "No, My Lady. They look as they always do."

Blinking at him, she looked back at the jar. "They're... they're glowing."

The general shrugged. "Reflection from the moon."

Kagome looked to the sky, seeing the moon behind clouds. "How? The moon isn't out." Swallowing hard, Kagome popped the top and dumped the shards into her palm. She could feel the eyes of the general boring holes in her, but she ignored him as she watched the shards begin to glow brighter. She actually had to squint and turn away from them so she wasn't looking at them head on. Her palm began to feel warm where the shards sat, and she could feel that burn begin to creep up her arm.

When the general saw wips of what looked like smoke begin to rise off the onna's hand, he pushed himself to fully stand and took a half step toward her. "Drop those, My Lady."

Kagome just shook her head hard. It wasn't that she couldn't, it was she knew she shouldn't. She didn't know what was going on, but something was, and she could _feel_ this needed to happen.

Raising his own arm, the general shielded his eyes as Kagome's aura became visible. But, it wasn't the red it should have been being a demon. It was flashing back and forth between the red of a demonic aura to a brilliant pink of the miko she used to be. There was a magnificent flash of light that left the general seeing spots, and then they cleared, Kagome was laid out ten feet from where she was a moment ago. Jolting, he darted toward her and slid on his knees to her side. The first the he did, once he saw she was breathing, was set his ear over her abdomen, letting out a hard breath of relief when he heard the strong heartbeat of the pup. When she trembled, he pulled off his outer haori and dropped it over her with a shake of his head. "I told you to put the shards down."


	10. Chapter 10

Kagome didn't know where she was, but she knew she wasn't in the forest anymore. Everything around her was white and void of any smells or sounds. It was almost enough to drive her mad. However, Sesshoumaru was proved right. She did hear the cub's heartbeat in the devoid.

Wrapping her hands around her midsection, she slowly turned on point, looking for anything; anything at all. When there was nothing, she called out a 'hello', but was rewarded with nothing but silence for a long enough moment to drive her crazy. When there was a voice, it made her jump and cover her ears.

"Welcome, Sister."

Looking all around her, Kagome cleared her throat. "Who's there? Where are you?" There was no answer, but all around her, images of her past appeared. It was like watching her life in photographs. Everywhere she looked, there was another memory staring back at her.

Slowly, she walked forward, the images becoming more recent the longer she walked. She had no idea how long it took, or how far she walked, but eventually, she finally came across another person, looking up at two images, one of her as the human was, and one of her as the demon she is now.

She picked up the pace and called out "hey', but the being didn't turn, or even move for a long moment. Kagome stopped a few feet behind her, her own eyes looking up at the comparison photos, a drawn look on her face. She sighed and looked away.

The being, a small smile on her face, tilted her head to the side. "You're beautiful, Eastern Lady." Turning her head to look at the demon behind her, she smiled wider. "You shouldn't hide."

Kagome slowly looked back to who she was with, shock shooting down her spine as it snapped straight. "Midoriko."

The miko smiled at her before returning her attention to the images before her. "You, Kagome, and your soul are the Kami's greatest creation. Even as you are, a year later, you have never killed another." Slanting her eyes to the dumbfounded demon, her voice was flat. "That male of yours, though. Kami help him does that demon have a temper."

Only half covering the cringe at the mention of Kouga's rather nasty temper, Kagome cleared her throat. "How..."

Finally turning to look at her, Midoriko held her arm out to the side, indicating all the images displayed. "This is all by design of the Kami. You have lived well, Kagome. You should be proud of yourself. So much temptation in your time, and so many things working against you in this one. You, and you alone, have been given the power to end this all."

Kagome shook her head. "I don't understand. How are you here?"

Midoriko smiled at the demoness. "My soul _is_ the Shikon no Tama. I live in all of it, as do the demons. It's not about who has the pieces, Sister. It's about how they use them. All power, real and mystical, have the ability to be both good and evil. It's the person that makes the choice. Power cannot make that decision. You, as you were, had the power to destroy countless demons, and you chose to instead use it to help them. You, as you are, have the ability to massacre any number of humans you choose, yet you choose to leave them to live. That is real power, not a wish you can make on a jem."

Kagome nodded as she crossed her arms. "Why me?"

Moving to stand before the demoness, Midoriko set her hands on Kagome's shoulders, a serious look on her face. "Because, only you could have accomplished what has been in the last years. It is your Kami given purpose, Sister, to bring together the Kami's children and show them demons and miko can once again life together in peace and harmony. No one but you can do it."

Kagome shook her head. "I'm not a miko anymore. My powers were stolen a year ago."

Lowering her voice, Midoriko spoke like she was telling a secret. "And I'm going to give them back."

Horrified, Kagome ripped herself out of the older miko's hold and shook her head as she wrapped her arms around her belly. "You can't! My cub..."

Midoriko cut her off. "She will be just fine."

Kagome blinked. "She?"

Nodded, Midoriko smiled. "Males aren't meant to wield riki. You were made for this, and so will she be as the first born demonic miko." Then, once again, the miko became very serious. "Make no mistake, Kagome. I can only give you the tool necessary to end this war, but it will be up to you to so. You were chosen by the Kami. You simply must believe that, or all will be lost. No evil can win."

Kagome frowned at first, but as that last part sunk into her mind, her eyes snapped to Midoriko's. "Kikyo."

Glaring at one of the images that held the mentioned miko, Midoriko crossed her arms. "A corrupt soul without a purpose of their own will always throw off the balance. She, more than any, must be stopped. She broke the cardinal rule of mikos and disgraced us all. Working in tangent with a great evil for selfish purpose is not, and has never been, tolerated." Shaking her head, the miko became disgusted. "She was once so revered and respected, tasked with importance only to throw it all away. She ruined much with her selfish ways, and will one day be punished for her crimes."

Listening to her, Kagome gulped. "My mating?"

Returning her eyes to the young lady, Midoriko gave her a reassuring smile. "It will remain intact. Magic stole you powers, but it wasn't magic that bonded you to your demon, nor was it magic that gave him your heart. That was you. Your choices are not being questioned or condemned, Kagome. You were meant for the wolf. Sometimes... it just takes a little bit of persuasion to make things happen.

Kagome cocked a brow. "Persuasion?"

With a giggle, Midoriko turned back to the images of the two Kagome's and raised her arms. "Fine. Divine Intervention."

Though Kagome opened her mouth to say something else, Midoriko began moving her hands closer, combining the two stills. As they collided, Kagome felt like she was punched in the gut. Dropping to her knees, she gnashed her teeth together and wrapped one arm around her waist, using the other to hold herself up as she choked on her breath.

As the room went white again, and Kagome's vision began to fade, she heard Midoriko's disembodied voice ring in her ears.

"Good luck, Sister, and Kami Bless your arrows."

Shooting up with a gasp, Kagome panted for breath, looking around her and finding she was back in the woods, with a very concerned inu staring at her.

The General looked at the Eastern Lady, and couldn't believe his eyes. She was clearly still a demon, but there were now bright pink markings on her cheeks and arms, and her eyes were longer the blue they were, but a vibrant purple. Her scent changed as well. It was crisper, cleaner. He was confused, but her safety was more important than a few demonic markings and different colored eyes. Reaching out and grabbing her hands when she held them out, the general pulled her to her feet. steadying her when she swayed. "Are you alright, My Lady."

Pressing the heel of her hand to her forehead, Kagome nodded. It took her a moment, but the world did stop spinning and when it did, she looked at the general and spoke, her words brokering no arguments. "I need a bow, arrows, and a ride."


	11. Chapter 11

Climbing up the back of the mountain, Kagome had tunnel vision, but knew she had to show up unseen. It hadn't taken long for the general to get her her requested weapons, but it did take a little longer to convince him she needed to get back to the mountain since he was given expressed orders to keep her away from it.

Once she told him about the dream, he relented, but only after saying it was under duress because he knew Sesshoumaru was going to have his ass.

Once they reached the top, Kagome crept between the rocks, staying low and out of sight until she got a good view of what was going on on the cliff. When she reached the edge, she pulled an arrow from her back and notched it in place, eyes locked on Kouga while he dodged the wind attacks from Kagura, and Sesshoumaru as he danced with with brother.

Down below, Kouga was really started to get tired. It wasn't easy to keep up with wind, and as far as anyone else knew, he was in possession of the final shards. It was difficult to figure out he was going to face worse than he had before because everyone else present wanted what he had. However, he also had two very good reasons to come out on top, and he was going to.

Landing hard on a knee, he decided it was time to go on offense, and between waves of her fan, Kouga put all the power he had into his legs and shot forward. He hardly ever used the shards in a fight because it took a lot of out him, but this time, he knew he didn't really have a choice. He had to be faster than the wind if it was going survive.

He landed a solid hit on Kagura, but she wasn't the only person present that wanted his shards. He barely had the time to dodge the arrow aimed for his head, but the incarnation didn't. The explosion of holy energy when the arrow hit the wind witch sent Kouga flying, and he landed his hard on his back. Breathing hard, Kouga laid there, his skin on fire. It was so much worse than when he was shot in the back a year ago. It almost felt like his flesh was melting.

A snarl caressed his ears and a growl shook the ground, prompting him to slit his eyes open, and immediately wishing he hadn't.

Above him, standing tall with her legs straddling his waist, was his mate; who he was expressly told was being kept away from the den. Her form was sublime as she stood with her bow before her and arrow drawn back. But, it wasn't that she was there, or that she had somehow gotten her claws on a weapon. It was that she was clearly different than she was that stilled the wolf's tongue as he tried to come back to himself after that rather ungraceful landing.

Kagome stood proud, her purple eyes narrowed and fangs bared. She had her sights set on the incarnations that stood between her and Naraku since Sesshoumaru was between her and the others. She heard gasps of her name, but ignored them as she narrowed her eyes further. There was still a growl in her throat as she pulled her bow string tighter.

In her mind, she begged for everything she was told to be true, that she had the power needed to win. Letting her breath out, she released her arrow, causing a round of choked cried and a scream to sound out at the sight of the dark pink trail the arrow made as it cut through Kagura's remaining winds and hit it's mark of Kanna's mirror, taking the Void Child out of the equation. Pulling another arrow and notching it in place, Kagome came face to face with her soul's predecessor.

Kikyo got between Naraku and Kagome, her eyes burning with hatred as she looked at her reincarnation. "How is this? What trickery do you use, Demon?"

Kagome smirked wide, her fangs flashing in the light of the full moon. "Trickery isn't really my thing, Bitch." Releasing her arrow, Kagome darted away from Kouga since he was getting to his feet. It wasn't hard to know that Kikyo would dodge the arrow, but she didn't dodge the bow as Kagome swung it like a sword, knocking Kikyo off her feet.

Though Inuyasha tried to go to Kikyo's aid, Sesshoumaru cut him off. Kouga took up defence of Kagome's other side against another of Naraku's incarnations, while Sango and Miroku continued to keep the lower level demons at bay, since they were a risk to everyone.

Sango, though, couldn't stop looking in the direction of Kagome. It was clearly her face, but the eyes and markings she had said that was not her best friend. Besides, Kagome died a year ago... according to Kikyo. The slayer _knew_ something was up when a living, breathing Kikyo showed up two days after Kagome disappeared. But, she couldn't dispute the fact the only way Kikyo would have Kagome's power was if the miko from the future was gone.

So... how was she not only alive, but a demon? Kouga wouldn't have had the power to change her species, even if they were mated like the bite to Kagome's shoulder said they were. Glancing at Miroku, she saw him nod, telling her they were on the same page. Lips pressing together, Sango threw her boomerang again, but in the opposite direction, calling to Kouga to duck.

Clearly, the wolf prince was now the most important person to Kagome, and that made him important to her. Jumping off Kirara, Sango sent her to aid the wolf until the low level demons were gone. Behind her mask, Sango spoke in a normal voice, knowing Kagome's demonic hearing would pick it up. "I'm with _you_ , Kagome."

A small smile graced Kagome's lips at the statement, but it was gone in the next moment. Ducking down to dodge the return of Sango's weapon, while she was crouched, she swung her leg out, tripping Kikyo as she got back to her feet.

Faster than anyone could follow, Kagome knocked another arrow, and let it fly. All eye followed it as it sliced through the air, taking out a massive amount of low level demons. Having another arrow ready and returning her eyes to Kikyo, Kagome's smirk only grew at the look in her eyes being on the business end of the projectile. "You've been a very naughty miko, Kikyo. The Kami aren't your biggest fans, and I am here to stop you, at every turn. You have a choice, but you only have one chance to get it right. Give me your shards, or I'll take them from your withered, rotten corpse."

Kikyo sneered at her. "I don't have any."

Kagome narrowed her eyes. "You're lying. I can see them."

Screeching, Kikyo lunged at her, hitting the ground when Kagome dodge with no effort. "You LIE! I took your powers and with them, your sight."

Kagome chuckled as she stood over Kikyo, once again pointing her arrow at the enraged miko. "And Midoriko gave them back. Everything you have ever done has backfired. You tried to kill me, and here I am. You tired to get rid of me, yet again, here I am. You tried to steal my riki, and again, here I am with it intact. Give it up, Kikyo, and walk away. You have no power here. Take your stolen life and try to figure out how to save your soul."

Kikyo growled in her throat. "Our soul."

Kagome shook her head. "No, that one you did succeed in taking. It's all yours." Her eyes slanted to the side, looking at Kouga, a fang poking out from behind her grin parted lips. "I share a soul with someone else now." Returning her eyes to Kikyo, her voice flattened. "You made me a demon, remember? I have no need for a human soul. Last chance. Give me your shards then take your sorry ass away from here before I change my mind."

Kikyo shook her head. "The spell..."

Kagome cut her off. "There is no power in magic, ya dumb bitch. You used to know that. All you succeeded in doing was taking down a wall that was long overdue to be removed, and freeing something locked away for safekeeping. You've already lost. You just need to decide if you're ready to die as well."

"You don't have the fortitude to kill."

Kagome cocked a brow. "Are you positive about that? Are you willing to stake your life on it? How does it feel to bleed again, Kikyo? To feel pain? Not only am I fully willing, and able, to send you back to hell, you will be sure to _feel_ every moment of your death. Wanna test the creature the you created? It is with the blessing and by grace of the Kami I stand before you as I am, perfectly content in the knowledge I am carrying out their wishes of sending you back to where you belong. Make your choice. Choose your side. Live with the consequences long overdue." She lowered her voice and her eyes crinkled in the corners. "Make it right, if you even know what that is anymore."

Kikyo looked hard at Kagome, nothing but contempt in her eyes and triumph in her voice. "I've seen to it you don't have the power to kill Naraku."

Smirk growing, Kagome released her arrow, lodging it in the stone next to Kikyo's head before grabbing another one. Once it was in place, Kagome winked at Kikyo when she gasped at the sight of Kagome's shards embedded in the wood. There was amusement in Kagome's voice as she turned away from her incarnation, pulling the string tight as she took her aim. "You're right about that but, it was never about me, remember? It was never _my_ power that would accomplish that. It was always hers. Sesshoumaru! Sango! NOW!"

Completely in sync with each other, the three launched their attacks. The lighting strike from Sesshoumaru's sword attached itself to Sango's hiraikotsu as it flew through the air in front of Kagome's arrow.

Naraku, who had thought to beat a hasty retreat, was stopped by the deadly boomerang cutting off his path, and he didn't have the time to try and deflect Kagome's arrow by a barrier or tentacles.

Pivoting on her toes, Kagome darted away from where she shot her arrow, grabbing both Kouga's and Sesshoumaru's arms as she reached them. "Gotta go, boys. Get off the cliff, get off the cliff, get off the cliff!." As she and the other full demons jumped off the ledge, Kagome shot off one more arrow, this time without any charge to it, and aimed it for the soon to be purified Onigumo.

Kouga snagged Kagome around the waist and dug his free arm into the rock wall to slow their descent, stopping twenty feet down. Tucking her between him and the wall, he looked up and had to squint against the brightness of the light. It was as if he looked into the sun itself. Even being below it, he could still feel the charge in the air enough for it to make the hair on his arms and the back of his neck stand on end.

The blast, however, wasn't the only problem.

Eyes widening, he tightened his grip on Kagome and shoved them both backwards, away from the mountain, as hard he could to avoid the rockslide that followed.

Sango, who was recovering herself from being thrown back by the force of the blast, looked down and watched in slow motion as Kouga and Kagome fell towards the ground, too far from anything to slow their fall. With a gasp, she called for Kirara, who had avoided purification by going up.

The neko looked to where her master pointed and, with a roar, shot down toward the two wolves.

Sesshoumaru beat her to them.

Atop his aura cloud, he grabbed Kouga by the wrist, stopping the free fall. As a result, the action ripped Kouga's shoulder from the socket.

Not losing his grip on his mate, Kouga grunted at the shock of the pain of a dislocated shoulder. Breathing through clenched teeth, he looked up at the Western Lord. "Thanks. Owe ya one."

Sesshoumaru simply looked back down at him with a 'hn', before letting go when the neko was in place to receive them. With a glance at the rather green Kagome, Sesshoumaru shook his head. "We are even."

Kagome had a hand over her mouth, her eyes closed. Her stomach was somewhere up the mountain, and she was pretty sure she was gonna throw up when she got it back. Leaning heavily into Kouga's chest, she groaned lowed and swallowed hard, trying with everything she had to keep her dinner down.

Kouga, hearing Kagome's stomach roll, dipped his head to speak in her ear. "You okay?" It took her a moment, but when she nodded, Kouga's voice got a little more annoyed. "Then do you wanna tell me what the fuck is going on?"

With another groan, Kagome ignored his irritation and pressed herself closer to him. "Later. Did I get him?"

Kouga frowned before looking at Sesshoumaru, who shrugged. Neither lord thought it was a good idea to go anywhere near that particular cliff for the time being. Instead, Kouga shrugged. "I dunno. But even without a direct hit, I doubt even a full demon would have survived that much holy energy that close. I felt it twenty feet below the ledge. Now, how did you get your powers back?"

Kagome grunted. "Kouga, clearly there are some things we need to talk about, but do me a favor and shut the fuck up. I'm _trying_ to focus on not puking on you right now. Our daughter apparently isn't a fan of falling to our deaths."

Blinking at the top of her head, Kouga grinned. "Daughter?"

Kagome just grunted again. "Boy's aren't meant to wield Riki. Now shush. You're loud and I'm tired."


	12. Chapter 12

Once they were placed on the ground, Kirara went to retrieve Sango and Miroku, leaving Inuyasha to bring Kikyo down from the destroyed den, and Sesshoumaru to replace Kouga's shoulder to it's proper placement.

Though they broke the news to him easy, Kouga was still rather pissed off his ancestral home was probably devastated beyond repair. Kagome tried to apologize, but at the moment, he wasn't having it. When he calmed down some, she would eventually point out if he had listened to her and taken the fight to them instead of the them coming to him it wouldn't happen, but for now, she decided to let him have his fit.

Sango was quick to wrap her arms around her best friend, and repeatedly apologized for not looking harder for her, but once she explained what she had been told when Kikyo showed up at their camp two days after she vanished, Kagome didn't care. She didn't from the beginning, but she knew Sango well enough to let her say her peace so she could let it go. She hadn't been the only one lied to, so Kagome just shrugged it off with a 'it's over', and 'let it go'.

When Inuyasha and Kikyo finally joined them, Kagome stood with her head high, Kouga by her side as she stared down the older miko. This would be the deciding moment of what happened to the long dead miko, and whether or not there was a redeeming bone left in her body.

Inuyasha opened his mouth, but Kagome just shook her head. "You have nothing to say to me, Inuyasha. I have nothing to say to you. There is nothing to say here. It was fun. Don't ruin it with words you don't mean. You're not sorry. You don't feel bad. That's okay. I'm not, and I sure as hell don't. Everything happened exactly as it was supposed to."

Inuyasha just grunted and crossed his arms. "Khe, but why the wolf?"

Kagome cocked a brow as Kouga growled. "Ask your bitch, Muttface."

Rolling her eyes, Kagome put herself between the two that would never get along. "Enough, both of you." Pointing to Inuyasha, "You have no right to question a damn thing." Then she pointed to Kouga, "and I'll whoop your ass."

Kouga grinned as he caught her wrist and pulled his mate into his arm. Reaching up and cupping her cheek, he lightly caressed her face over one of her new pink markings with his thumb, his voice husky. "Promise?"

Leaning into his touch, Kagome looked up at him through her lashes. "Stop it." When Kouga winked at her, she turned her head, her purple eyes landing on Kikyo. "Well?"

Kikyo played with the jewel in her hand, holding the whole thing sans the two shards still in Kouga's legs. She looked at her reincarnation held so tenderly in the arms of man, and couldn't bite back the bitter jealousy. "I was once you. It won't last."

Kagome snorted. "You were never me, Kikyo. You could never be me. You don't have the fucking balls. You're too selfish to risk life and limb for those you say you care about. You don't have the heart to care about anyone but yourself. You wanted to be ordinary when your were born to extraordinary. Naraku might have put you in your grave, but you made it easy, because you had already killed yourself."

There had never been a time in her life Kikyo had been cut so deep by words. The sting they left was unexpected, and left her with no response. She had never been rendered so completely speechless, and truth be told, she was not a fan. Tightening her fingers around the broken jewel she didn't have the ability to fuse together, with her lips pressed in a thin line, she held out her closed fist toward Kagome. "Here. Take them, and know what it's like to have your life ruled for you. Find out what it's like to be a plaything to the Kami."

Actually barking out a laugh, Kagome couldn't help it, she laughed so hard she had to wipe tears from her eyes as she caught the shards Kikyo dropped into her palm. "Are you fucking serious right now? For the last five years that's all I _have_ been. You think this is how I thought my life would go? Fuck no. I thought I would graduate high school... go to college... marry a human. None of that happened. My life hasn't been mine since that damn bug pulled me down a dried up old well at the back of my family's shrine. You have no _idea_ what it's really like to be a toy to the Gods. You have no idea what it's like to have your life lived for you."

Closing her hand around the shards, she then turned to Kouga, holding out her other hand expectantly.

Kouga wrinkled his nose at what he knew she wanted. Yeah, he needed to give them up to complete the jewel. He just didn't want to. When his mate cleared her throat, he sighed and crouched, pushing down the fur leg warmers and, with a slice of his claw to both shins, removed his shards and handed them over to a smirking Kagome. He just curled his lip and huffed as he crossed his arms. "For the record, I think we could have kept this from happening again."

Snorting, Kagome added the last two shards to the rest and closed her palm. a flash of light shining from between her fingers. Opening her hand, she picked up the finally whole Shikon between her claws, turning it around in her fingers. "It's so hard to think such a tiny little thing would cause such big problems."

Kikyo crossed her arms and sneered. "You still have to make the wish to destroy it, and there isn't a pure bone in a demon's body."

Giving the uppity bitch a look, Kagome brought the jem to her lips and whispered her wish, locking her eyes on Kikyo's. "I wish the Shikon no Tama was gone."

Never moving her eyes from Kikyo's, from the corner of her eye, Kagome watched the jewel seemingly float up from her fingertips. A mist rose up from the Shikon and took the form of the most powerful Miko in history. Midoriko's arms were held out to the side, a smile on her face as she bowed her head. A light breeze blew through the valley, taking the soul of Midoriko with it.

Dumbfounded, Kikyo tripped over her tongue. "That was the wish?"

Again, Kagome chuckled as she rubbed her fingers between her eyes. "You're an idiot. It's only a selfish wish if you use it for personal gain. There is nothing to gain by wishing the jewel gone, but there is a lot to lose. The purest thing you can do is give up ultimate, unnecessary, power." Turning away from her predecessor, Kagome waves her fingers over her shoulder as she went to stand with Kouga again. "You might have a heart beat again, but you have a lot to learn about living." Looking up at Kouga, she smiled. "Power is in the person, not in what they possess." Looking back at Kikyo, her smile was still present. "Keep that in mind. Live well, Priestess."


	13. Chapter 13

Hidden in the trees, two sets of eyes watch a very human Kagome running from the house towards the well with a smile on her face. She had no idea she wouldn't be returning the way she came, and it would be a very long time until she saw her family again.

For the last five hundred years, Kagome did as she was tasked, trying her best to bring miko demon relations to a better place, but it wasn't until her and Kouga's daughter was born it became an instant reality. It was a hard fought -but won- battle.

Katana was the first of her kind, a demon with the power to wield holy energy, but she wasn't the last. She was also not Kouga and Kagome's only cub. They had three more; two boys and another girl, but Katana was the only one to inherit Kagome's Riki.

Tamaru was their eldest boy and the cub to receive the title of Eastern hier. Their third child, the other boy, was named Sota after Kagome's brother. Their last cub, Miyo, was their other daughter and the literal light in Kouga's eyes. All his cubs where his life, but Miyo was the baby, and Kagome made it clear she would be their last.

The past years weren't easy. There were plenty of times it didn't look like demons would actually see the modern era, but by banning together, more than Kagome ever thought roamed the streets with the humans none the wiser. More than once she took the time to wonder if they were always there and she just didn't know, or if something changed the last time she went through the well.

She supposed, in the end, it didn't matter that much. What did was that she had lived a very long time at Kouga's side, and couldn't imagine ever being anywhere else. She didn't know the kind of love she shared with him actually existed anywhere but fairytales.

When her human self was down the well, Kagome dropped from her spot in the trees, Kouga right by her side. Arms crossed, she kicked at a rock and looked to the well. "Well, that's the last time I go through."

Kouga looked to the well for only a moment before looking back at his mate, a smile on her face. "Don't look too upset, now, or you'll hurt my feelings."

Snorting softly, Kagome shook her head before she smiled up at him. "So, ready to meet the family?"

Nodding, Kouga held out a hand toward the house. "After you, My Love."

Taking a step, she turned her head, popped up on her toes, then kissed Kouga's cheek. "You really are amazing."

Kouga chuckled. "Am I now?"

A sly smile crossed Kagome's lips as she started to walk backwards. "Yeah. You know, I think, had you tried just a little harder, this would have happened different than it did."

Kouga shrugged as he followed after her. "I didn't care then, and I don't care now."

"That's what I mean. You took the whole thing in stride and you didn't have to. You could have been really pissed off."

Making a face, Kouga reached out and grabbed her by the hips, pulling her back to him right before she opened the backdoor. "You were mine. Why would I have cared how it happened? Sure, I got shot in the back, sliced opened, my home destroyed, four great kids, and a mate I loved for years before she said yes. What part of that should I be pissed off about?"

Setting her hand on the door knob, Kagome grinned. "The fact that it only happened because of a spell."

 **~FIN~**


End file.
